


Can't Be Ignored

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Series: Ready For The Siege [12]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asgard, Avengers in Asgard, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Torture, Internalized Misogyny, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Misogyny, intergalactic shenanigans, so I got jossed pretty hard, war comes to Asgard, written before GOTG was released
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-01
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 10:45:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 33,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2385542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rather than wait for a full scale attack to reach Asgard, they decide to make the first strike themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fall From Grace

Even Odin couldn't explain away the Chitauri energy staff, and reluctantly allowed Natasha to call in whoever she felt would be appropriate to help combat the silent invasion. He insisted on keeping her "appropriate help" as minimized as possible, however. Tony was awed by the appearance of the Observatory, actually remaining silent. Bruce seemed vaguely uncomfortable by the travel, not quite nauseous. Steve took in everything and gave Heimdall a friendly smile that was returned with a grave and respectful nod. Clint gaped a bit, then apparently pulled himself together and tried to look nonchalant. Jane had come along for the ride, and she grinned madly at the sight of the Observatory. "This looks fantastic!" she cried, bright eyes gleaming. "Can we do that again?"

Heimdall actually smiled at her. "Should you need to return to Midgard, simply ask."

The group was installed within the palace, not far from Natasha's suite. Bruce and Jane had been given copies of all Chitauri research done by SHIELD R&D, though Fury hadn't wanted to send along originals or any members of their science division. Jane probably volunteered to go in their place anyway; it was a great way to get further information for her Einstein-Rosen Bridge studies, as well as see Thor again. Natasha couldn't blame her for that.

Thor brought them all to a meeting room closer to his own suite. As soon as Sif, Fandral and Volstagg arrived, Loki surreptitiously cast a silencing spell over the entire room, and took a seat closest to the door. Natasha brought the map and reported all that she had seen and heard so far, as well as what she thought might be happening on Asgard. "Then it is treachery we must suspect," Sif said finally, her gaze falling onto Loki.

"Not from that quarter, no," Natasha corrected, seeing her line of sight.

"We never did get a good enough story of how the Chitauri decided to come to Earth," Bruce said, drumming his fingers on the table. "Just that they were the army meant to subjugate it."

Now nearly everyone's eyes were on Loki. Her gaze was stubbornly fixed on the wall behind them all, though a few of them noticed how she gripped her leg so hard her knuckles were white.

"Why are you staring at Lara?" Volstagg asked. "Is she not Midgardian as well?" Fandral and Thor frowned, also not understanding the significance.

"Not exactly," Clint said before Natasha could say anything. "Let's just put it this way... I remember some vague bits about the possession I was under before the Battle of New York." It was obvious he didn't want to be discussing it, but was willing to put aside his own comfort for the greater good. "Someone was pulling Loki's strings, as much as he was pulling mine. At times he looked sick and uncomfortable, in trances and looking afraid. I think Midgard was just a realm that got thrown under the bus to save his hide."

Loki dug her nails into her thigh even harder, her breathing becoming shallow. Natasha, Steve and Clint frowned at her, but Tony simply gave her a dubious look. Bruce let out a sigh. The others in the room didn't know that Loki was female now, and let the comments go, looking away from Loki at the door.

"So we're looking at someone bigger than the Chitauri, winding them up and watching them go on their merry way," Jane said.

Natasha saw how Loki tensed, and shifted in her seat slightly to make sure she had the others' attention. "I know you're working on your bridge with Bruce," she said to Jane. "Is there a way to track its energy signatures here? There are more magic items and enchanted things in this realm than on Earth. We'd have to isolate whatever signal the Chitauri are using."

Sif was still eyeing Loki strangely, as if contemplating what she was actually seeing. "What you speak of as energy signatures we do call magic. There are those with _seidr._ The Queen is most gifted, and may be persuaded to help with this task as well."

"Would you be able to do that?" Natasha asked. At Sif's querying expression, Natasha shrugged negligently. "She may not be willing to help if I ask her. I may have said some things she didn't really want to hear."

"Ah." Sif flashed her a smile. "You have a way of upsetting the natural order of things around here, Natasha."

"Sounds like a story or two I want to hear," Tony said, sounding interested for the first time. He looked up from the SHIELD reports. "There are salacious stories, aren't there? You're an Ambassador and living with royalty, so there has to be something. Come on, you can tell me. I love salacious stories."

Volstagg glowered at Tony. "Do not disparage the House of Odin, friend Stark. It's not becoming for one tasked with helping to save it from Outsiders."

Natasha caught Loki's reflexive twitch and wondered what exactly was setting her off. "In any case," she began, giving Tony an unamused glare, "that would take care of the _seidr_ aspect of trying to track them. There isn't any consistent threat between the jarls that are missing and not all of the bodies have been found. Plus, karls that haven't been reported missing have turned up in pieces in the mines."

Thor had been upset, and had gone with Volstagg and Fandral to look through the area while Sif had gone to speak with surrounding jarls. The three warrior men had been subdued afterward and met with Odin. Sif had returned with no news.

"Though none would truly complain about missing karls," Volstagg admitted heavily. "They are many, and few jarls would come forward requesting help in locating them. It would be assumed that they ran off to other estates, that they abandoned their families out of _argr."_

"So we don't know how many missing nobodies there really are," Tony said, drumming his fingers on the table. Volstagg shook his head in reply. "When was the last census taken?" Blank stares met his question. "What? Nobody keeps count of how many people actually live on Asgard, then?"

"It is not needed," Thor explained, shaking his head. "Each karl pays tribute to the jarl, each jarl pays tribute to Odin. It is our way."

"And that way is about to go the way of the dodo bird," Tony muttered, shaking his head.

Steve sent him a quelling look. "All right. So we don't know how many are actually missing. There could be a lot more karls missing, maybe more jarls missing. We only know whatever the rumor mill talks about." At the nods of the Asgardians, Steve leaned back a bit in his seat. "So we take another tack. Who would benefit from seeing Asgard fall?"

"There are enemies to the realm," Thor began slowly. "But there has been peace throughout the Nine Realms until four of your years ago."

Natasha repressed the urge to look at Loki. Tony didn't bother, and looked at her openly.

"But if someone was waiting in the wings," Steve continued, "this would be a perfect time to swoop in and take advantage. So who might be on that list?"

The Asgardian warriors exchanged uneasy looks. "It seems... disrespectful to the Allfather," Sif said finally. "For so long it has been said that our realm is at peace, that there are no enemies to be had against us."

"Think of this as a mental exercise," Steve said soothingly, reaching out a bit and touching the table in front of her. "A game of what-if. Whoever's on this list isn't necessarily who we're looking for, but it can give us a place to start planning from to prepare."

"Unlike Midgard, yours is a warrior culture," Clint said, breaking his brooding silence. "Your people can fight back against an attack. They'd know what to do. That would minimize any casualties this enemy might cause."

"Do we list creatures of myth, then?" Sif asked. "Stories told to children of ancient enemies long vanquished? Such were thought to be true of Jotunheim before some of them found their way into the palace four years ago."

"There's a grain of truth in every myth," Steve replied. "It's our job to find that grain."

"In the beginning of time was the Unbeing, he who waited for Ragnarok to begin. He fed on the energies of destruction and chaos. There is Malekith, ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, bent on plunging the entire universe into eternal darkness. Surtur is leader of the fire demons from Muspelheim, bound to an asteroid by Odin long ago. It is said that forging his sword Twilight will begin Ragnarok. The sword is magic, capable of manipulating vast amounts of mystical energy, able to shatter dimensional barriers." Fandral listed these beings in a very precise, matter of fact manner.

"Those are all tales," Thor said heavily. "Svartalfheim is a mostly desolate place, with nothing alive still there. My grandfather had obliterated the Dark Elves that intended to do such harm, destroyed their weapons. The entire militant portion of their race was annihilated, the land devastated. Even now, that area is lifeless. Malekith himself is dead, and the remainder of the Dark Elves is ruled by Queen Alflyse of the Eastern Spires. Whatever is not blasted and dead is largely wooded lands with some villages. They may have portals, but they do not seek conquest of other worlds."

"Okay, so it's probably not him. What about the other ones?" Steve asked.

"Or are there other possibilities? Three mythological enemies for all of Asgard? Doesn't seem right somehow. Asgard is the peacekeeper among the Nine Realms, you've said. Most big, bad guys don't like the peacekeepers. So there's bound to be more realistic enemies you've forgotten to mention," Clint said.

"Jotunheim is all but destroyed," Fandral said quietly. "Much of its people were slaughtered without mercy and without notice. They could not fight back. Any remainders of their people are far below ground, and would not be behind this."

"And they do not possess magic of any sort," Volstagg added.

"Muspelheim has not had any dealings with Asgard in millennia. It is indeed a land of fire and demonic beings, but they keep to themselves much of the time. Surtur is a story told to frighten children," Thor said, shaking his head. "No, I doubt they would be behind these foul deeds."

"Helheim is its own, and has no quarrel with any other realm. Midgard, of course, would do no such thing. Vanaheim is a close ally to Asgard," Sif added, ticking off a few more of the Nine Realms from the list they were compiling.

"Alfheim is at the top of Yggdrasil, a land of light and ice. Its people are peaceful, happy beings, uninterested in the tidings of war or battle," Thor said, leaning back in his seat. He dropped his hand on top of Jane's and smiled at her fondly. "They seek knowledge and learning, and would not cause harm to others."

"The dwarves that live in Nidavellir are allies to Asgard. It is they who craft our famed weapons, using the heat and flames of their very realm to light their forges." Volstagg shook his head. "They would not harm us either."

"Niffleheim is the lowest and coldest of all realms, the realm of darkness and death." Fandral shrugged. "Corpses reside there, especially those of the dishonored dead, and it is a land of mist beneath the roots of Yggdrasil. Helheim is close by, though the dead there are not honored or dishonored. That is the realm ruled by the Lady Hel."

"And just to confuse matters, Niffleheim is sometimes referred to as Hel," Sif added.

"So wait, where do the honored dead go? Is Valhalla real?" Jane asked, curious.

"Of a sort. It is distinct from Asgard, but closely connected to our world," Thor told her, fondness evident as he looked at her.

"You seek the work of Thanos," Loki said in a harsh whisper, still grasping her thighs in a white-knuckled grip. "The Other is an intermediary, an emissary of sorts from the Chitauri as they sought to curry his favor."

All eyes were on Loki now, her pale features etched with tension. "How do you know of these things, Lara?" Volstagg asked quietly. Fandral had a thoughtful expression on his face, almost tinged with pity; Natasha was sure that he was associating this now with the "bad event" that she had said Lara went through.

"They have neural networks," Loki continued as if Volstagg hadn't spoken. "Not all of them are linked, but the front line warriors are. That way generals know what's going on and can send in more if needed. Front line warriors are expendable. Cannon fodder, if you will. They're meant to die, meant to have their opponents expend energy and assets. Then when they are exhausted, further troops are sent in." She looked at those seated at the table with a pained expression. "They don't care if they die, if others die. They know they are expendable. Death is the final solution, the better answer. Death is what they want."

"So they're coming here now?" Clint asked, staring at Loki intently. Her eyes shifted away from his uncomfortably, though Natasha didn't think it was out of guilt.

"Impossible. My father would have known of such a threat," Thor said, shaking his head. "Such creatures would not have escaped his notice. Their ships and their beasts stand out."

"But Asgard is one of the higher realms, everyone keeps telling me," Natasha said slowly. Her eyes were on Loki, a slight furrow between her brows. It was fear driving Loki now. It wasn't guilt, she hadn't brought Asgard to the Chitauri notice, and this was something that had been a long time in the planning. "If the attack on Midgard failed when it should have been taken over without a hitch, who would the Chitauri or Thanos believe is responsible?"

Steve and Clint nodded immediately, catching onto her meaning. "We're mortal. Even with Tony in his suit putting the bomb through the portal," Steve said earnestly, "none of us ever pretended to be more than mortals doing what needed to be done."

"But you're not mortal," Clint said, looking at Thor. "And if that neural network means that the generals saw what the foot soldiers saw, then they saw _you._ They'd write off the rest of us and focus on your contribution."

"But you are mighty warriors in your own realm," Thor protested, clearly not wanting to belittle their efforts in the Battle of New York.

"Obviously. But the Chitauri don't know that," Clint said with a wave of his hand.

"So if they believe that you're the brains of the operation, then Midgard is protected by Asgard," Steve said, gesturing toward Thor and his fellow warriors. "You're the threat. You're the one they have to be concerned about."

"And if they can't take you out directly, they need to undermine all of you. They'll need to take you down from the inside out," Natasha said quietly. She could tell by Sif's widening eyes that she understood immediately. "They can afford to be slow. You live for thousands of years, and probably they do, too. If they move under the radar, they can do a lot of damage before you even know they're there."

Thor looked distinctly ill. "The randomness of the deaths thus far..."

"Could be random. Maybe it's not. But either way, they do a lot of damage to the infrastructure and the faith that the people have in the ruling class." Natasha leaned her elbow on the table and propped up her chin in her hand, a thoughtful expression on her face. "It's happened in human history frequently enough. When the people can't trust their government, when they have no faith in the system protecting them, it leads to utter chaos."

"Meaning?" Volstagg asked.

"It would give the Chitauri free rein to kill whoever they wished. If that's their plan..."

"What would stop them from doing the same to other realms once Asgard was out of the way?" Fandral asked quietly. "They could try to retake Midgard. And the peaceful realms would offer them no resistance at all."

"And death is what they want," Bruce said quietly, looking up from the SHIELD analyses he had been poring through next to Jane. "So they won't take prisoners, they won't negotiate. Just like in New York, they would go in for the kill."

"Then maybe, rather than simply asking Frigga's help in tracking down portals and _seidr_ use," Natasha began slowly, "we should ask her help in speaking to Hel." All of the Asgardians stared at her incredulously.

"You cannot bargain with Death," Thor began.

"She likes me," Natasha said with a shrug. "And I'm not proposing a bargain."

"What are you proposing?" Loki asked, voice slightly tremulous.

"Talking. That's it. A visit, getting as much information as she's willing to give me, maybe confirming that the missing jarls are dead."

"That's... not exactly a stable plan," Clint protested.

"You have a better one for right now?"

"Hunt down the Chitauri home world," he replied promptly.

"Then the rest of you can start on that. Think of this as me doing further recon."

"Tash..." Steve began, uncertainty in his tone.

"I'm serious. She talked to me before, and she's sought me out. She won't hurt me."

Thor nodded. "This is true. And if you travel from here, you will not have need for my mother's herbs. She could possibly open a portal to Helheim."

Clint scrubbed his face as Tony let out a low whistle. "The Black Widow going to see Lady Death," he said, shaking his head. "It's either a really beautiful friendship with all kinds of weird overtones or the start of a really fucked up porno."

Natasha very calmly reached over and smacked the back of Tony's head while everyone else groaned. "Keep your mouth shut on this realm, okay? You're not the one with diplomatic immunity," she told him.

Bruce managed to cover his snickers with a cough. Jane didn't even bother. She leaned into Thor's side with her excited grin in place. "So. While she's off talking with the personification of death, the others are investigating, Bruce and I will start going over the quantum physics of interstellar travel and wave harmonics. I definitely want to talk with Heimdall, and get his take on the Bifrost and how he chooses destinations. And who else would it be good to meet with? I know you call it magic here, but—"

"Jane!" Bruce said, getting her attention. "One part of the problem at a time. How about we stow our stuff and find a place we could use as a lab?"

Graciously, Thor rose to his feet as Jane nodded enthusiastically. "I will find you the appropriate place for your studies. We have a large library, with many scrolls and books that might be of service to your cause. I'll tell the palace historian to answer any questions you have. I'm not well versed in all the stories she would know."

Jane practically glowed and bounced the entire way, clutching thick folders of data provided by SHIELD to her chest. Bruce followed them, and with some encouragement, Tony did as well. Volstagg and Fandral knew where Steve and Clint would be staying, which left Sif with Natasha and Loki. She leveled a hard look at Loki for a long moment. "I would not recommend you accompany them to Helheim."

"No, I wouldn't go. I'm not wanted there, anyway," Loki told her honestly. There was a faint tremor in her hands that she couldn't quite hide. "I'd only get in the way of what you would want to know, Natasha."

Rising to her feet, Natasha couldn't help but feel as though Loki was too vulnerable just then, too afraid to be left alone. "I don't have to go right now."

"It's what's best," Loki murmured, sliding off of her high stool near the door and landing on her feet. "You do what you have to do, as you always have."

Suppressing the urge to sigh or roll her eyes, Natasha merely nodded crisply. If this was Loki being theatrical, she wasn't about to feed into it. She would simply take her to task for it later; she didn't need any fancy tools to punish her, after all. A belt and the straight back of her hairbrush would be enough to start with. Apparently, she had been too indulgent, and Loki was getting emotionally greedy. While that certainly meant that Midgard would forever be safe from her plotting, that also meant that Natasha would never get a moment's peace.

She still wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"I'll confer with you later, then. Want me to escort you back?"

Loki's gaze slid from Natasha to Sif, and she shook her head. "You'll need to speak with the Queen, then with Hel. You'll be safe with them."

Sif looked intently at Loki, lips pressed together. "Perhaps there are more than just superficial differences. The one I had known even a short time ago would have had foul trickery to perform, ill deeds that would ultimately cause harm to the House of Odin."

The bleak expression on Loki's face gave Sif pause. "Sometimes things happened that weren't planned for. But there would be incredible loss of face to admit such a thing, and then it all spirals out of control. I doubt there can be balance achieved for that."

There was really no answer to that, so Loki went off in one direction while Sif and Natasha went to see Frigga. The Queen looked at Natasha uncertainly, despite Sif's assurances that Natasha came with good intentions. Natasha was sure it was the memory of her frequent statements that she would kill Loki. Frigga didn't go to Helheim despite having the means to do so, and seemed to have no intention of ever seeing Hel. That made Natasha wonder what Thor had said in order to get Frigga's help before. Natasha remained silent as Sif spoke, thinking that she would get farther with the Queen. Frigga stared at Natasha for a long moment afterward, taking in her silence. "And what say _you?"_

"Hel won't harm me, and I'm not there to do more than speak with her and perhaps some of her dead if she'll allow it." Natasha remained controlled, her tone matter-of-fact and expression neutral. She was growing somewhat irritated with her and how Asgard ran. Perhaps they could afford to be so stagnant, if their expected lifespan was five or six thousand years. Humans were shorter lived, and couldn't afford to take such a long view. They literally had to adapt quickly or die out.

That stoic expression must have convinced Frigga, who nodded and beckoned them to follow her into her study. This was her private area, and few were ever invited into it. Even Natasha hadn't been invited into this room before. The room reminded her of Loki's hideaway on Yggdrasil. It was a comfortable place filled with scrolls, books, objects that very nearly pulsed with power and a massive desk with runes inscribed in its sides that looked as though it doubled as a workbench. Whatever _seidr_ or _spá_ she worked was done here in secret.

A silver circle had been worked into the marble floor, and Frigga gestured for Sif and Natasha to go into it. "Do you think I'm truly necessary for this task?" Sif asked Natasha.

"Only to provide assurance I don't plan to annihilate any realm," Natasha replied dryly.

There was only a slight hitch in Frigga's breathing, a twitch in her hand holding the athame. She smoothed her features when facing the two women. "Good to hear," she said brightly, though there was visible strain around her eyes.

"And individuals are safe, too. This is strictly an information gathering exercise."

That eased Frigga's tension further, but she wasn't as open as when she first spoke with Natasha on earth. She had that effect on most people, to be honest.

The ritual to open the portal was as fragrant and difficult to pronounce as Natasha remembered. They were not as far away from Hel's castle as Natasha had been, perhaps because Frigga could target their arrival more precisely. "I suppose this is easier than simply contacting Heimdall," Natasha said as they walked.

Sif shook her head. "If my brother transported us, we would arrive body and soul, and our souls would then be immediately ripped from our bodies. This is the land of the _dead."_

"Ah. Yes. Best to go via Frigga's portal, then."

They walked the rest of the way in silence, Sif looking around curiously. Natasha remained focused on the task at hand, taking the lead as they went. Hel was seated upon her throne, chill fires burning in braziers on either side of her. dressed in spun spider silk shot with shadow, she watched the two living women approach.

"Welcome, Lady Sif Orinsdottir and Natalia Alianova Romanova."

Sif gave Hel a formal bow and nod, so Natasha followed suit. Before she could speak, Natasha stepped forward. "Lady Hel, I've come to speak about the jarls going missing from Asgard."

"What about them?"

"Are some of them here? Could I speak to them?"

"To what end?"

"To know how they died, if they did."

"You don't bargain for their lives?" Hel asked, amusement in her tone.

"They're not mine to bargain for."

Hel laughed, not entirely unkindly. "No, they are not. Those souls were reverently given to me as a gift. You may not have them."

"But could I talk to them?" Natasha asked.

Sif looked around the room uncertainly, especially as the room darkened precipitously. "Natasha, is this wise?" she asked.

Hel laughed again. "Frightened, warrior? It's only the dead entering the hall."

Shades slid into the room, lining up without explicit direction. Natasha could see the difference in dress, and let her eyes skip over the karls. As much as it pained her to see how many were dead, and some evidence of how they died in the splashes of blood still present on their ghostly clothing, they wouldn't have been paying attention to details of who killed them. It was those details that Natasha wanted, and the jarls would more likely have paid attention, if only because of their righteous indignation.

Separating them out, Natasha quietly asked about the manner and way that they died. While the jarls were killed by different karls, some of which were also lined up in that hall, there was a common feature that quickly was revealed: their eyes were unnaturally blue, almost as if they were glowing. Engmarr actually saw shadows shift to reveal a gray-skinned creature with ragged yellow teeth, dingy-colored metal armor and a shining scepter with a glowing blue stone that matched the karls' blue eyes.

"The Chitauri were definitely involved, then," Natasha murmured. "Did that shadowy creature say anything?"

"It wanted me dead, and with the most pain," Engmarr told her. He started laughing, a shrill, erratic sound that Natasha associated with madness. "Pain is delicious, sweet and wonderful, a song gifted to their master, so he can collect it as tribute to his love."

"His love?" Natasha echoed.

"They worship and idolize death, of course."

Sif drew in a sharp breath at Engmarr's words. "And we are in the land of Death."

She and Natasha faced Hel, who merely smiled serenely. "Yes, we are."

"And now it's time for you to return to the land of the living," Hel told them, her voice carrying the grating sound of bone on bone. "You've learned what you needed to."

Natasha stood straight and tall, meeting Hel's eyes dead on. "I think we have, Lady Hel."

Without another word, Hel sent them back to Asgard.

***  
***


	2. What The Dead Know

"Tell me everything you know about the Chitauri."

Loki was curled into a tight ball in one corner of the study that was being used as a meeting room, not looking at the others. Her hair fell in a curtain over her face, obscuring them from view. Natasha had spoken, but Sif, Tony, Clint and Steve were also in the room. Bruce and Jane were furthering their research, Thor smoothing the way with the palace historian and trying to track down whoever else they might need to talk to. Volstagg and Fandral hadn't been interested in "just talking." Sif, however, had been fully aware of what needed to be talked about. She hadn't seen fit to tell them what it was, and neither had Natasha. As much as they usually were involved in Thor's exploits, they really wouldn't have contributed to the discussion at all, and would have only increased Loki's anxiety levels.

"What's to say?" Her voice was laced with bitterness and self recrimination. "I know nothing of their origins or home world. I had no need to know."

"What happened, then?" Natasha continued. Her voice was soft but toneless; the others had agreed to let her take the lead on this. She was most familiar at manipulating Loki at this point, and it would undoubtedly be manipulation to get anything useful out of her.

"What happened?" Loki scoffed, her fingers digging into her arms, which were wrapped around her legs. Her knuckles were white from the pressure. "When? What do you think you need to know about it?"

"I never asked you about what happened when you met the Chitauri."

"A fact I once was grateful for."

"And now?"

"I told you. They worship death. What else do you need to know? That's more than enough."

"What did they do? Where did they meet?" Natasha asked, voice steady. She was seated not even five feet away, also on the floor. Her posture was loose and comfortable, though the others in the room realized she could roll into aggressive action at any time.

"It matters not." Loki's voice was dull. "They seek death, and now they seek it here."

"You don't want Asgard destroyed. That was never your intent. Even on Earth, that was never your intent. You said you wanted to rule. You wanted to be important, to be seen as a benevolent god, as a savior to end all wars."

"You saw how that turned out."

"Humans don't take kindly to despotic rulers, no. So the Chitauri were stopped. But what do you think they would do here? If the warriors are unable to stop them? The Chitauri don't care who they take down, who dies on either side. The death toll would be horrific."

"It's what they desire."

"Is that what _you_ desire?" Loki remained silent, though her fingers tightened spastically on her arms. "Do you want to see them again? See them marching down the streets of Asgard, spilling out into the countryside? Do you want to see their flying creatures raining down the Chitauri warriors on estates of farmers and herders? Do you want to see the halls of Hel filled with the dead of Asgard, bodies broken and bleeding like the ones from the mine?"

That hit a nerve. Loki uncurled in an instant, hands balled into fists and lips drawn back from her lips in a snarl. Her eyes were fever bright, expression one of abject misery. "How can you sit there, righteous and unmoved?" Loki raged. "That was no honorable death, that was ignoble as any filthy thing they threatened to enjoy. Pain is sweet indeed to them, pain is what they crave to make the death that much more fitting for Thanos. And he will come, Natasha. He will come for us all if he's marked Asgard. They will all die, all of them, for he worships death and wants it for his own. Everything will end in a rain of bloodshed and misery. You cannot stop it _and I cannot protect you from it!"_

Natasha had been very still through all of that, and only now moved. Slowly, she caught Loki's fists in her own. "I'm not afraid of death, if this is when it happens."

_"I am."_

"Tell me why." Her voice was whisper soft, lulling and almost like a lover's caress. "Tell me why you fear Thanos."

"You don't understand..."

"Make me understand it."

"He's not alone in his plans. Genocide is something he hopes to woo Lady Death with, and he looks forward to conquest." Loki's voice shook a little, and her eyes slid away from Natasha's. "The Chitauri are nothing compared to his generals. They scour the known universe and between the realms looking for the means to do so. There are special gems to give him even more power. The Tesseract is one."

"The Infinity Gems," Sif said behind Natasha.

Loki nodded, head bowed. "I lied to him. I never meant for him to gain the Tesseract. I meant to keep it, to use the Chitauri to make Midgard mine. I only meant to rule."

"Thanos can't be pleased with you," Natasha commented, Loki's fists still caught in her hands.

"Death would be too good for me," Loki murmured. "There are five gems, and he already had the purple one. It controls space. The Tesseract, obviously, controls the mind."

Sif sighed. "Most of these are simply the stuff of legend."

"But they are made real," Loki replied, a bleak note in her voice. She looked up at Sif, hair falling over her face. "They are not all gems. The Aether is not a physical gem, after all, but it gives incredible power to its bearer, if the bearer isn't killed as a result."

"It was destroyed," Sif said, shaking her head, "so Thanos cannot retrieve it."

"So Thanos is courting Hel?" Natasha asked. Loki went very still at her words. "I would think she's merely stringing him along. I don't get the sense she cares about anything else but her own realm. If he destroys and massacres entire worlds, it would swell the realm of the dead."

"That would explain why he refused to kill me," Loki murmured. "But for everyone else, death is the ultimate goal. Genocide pleases him. It is the thing he hopes to curry favor, to win Hel as his own. She won't take him to her side to rule Helheim, but he is so blinded by his devotion that he can't see that and to tell him the truth is to risk annihilation."

"We need to find him first," Natasha told Loki, catching her attention. "No more whittling away at Asgard's defenses, no more scurrying around in corners. We flush them out, wherever they are, and finish this."

"He is powerful, especially with his control over space."

"There are other ways to gain power, aren't there?"

"Dismantling ancient artifacts," Loki replied immediately. "Unraveling spells of great magnitude, reweaving them into something new and charged. The _seidr, spá_ and runic magicks work best for such things."

"Then you can locate Thanos and figure out a way to wipe him out."

Loki shook her head. "It was a rock in the midst of space. Little better than an asteroid, all craggy and barren. Thanos' command of space meant that there was atmosphere to breathe, that it could support his needs, but that did not mean it was truly his home."

"You must have some idea of where that might be."

"No," Loki murmured, shaking her head. "He called me a fool for not trying to take Asgard. He had slaughtered his own kind."

Natasha let go of Loki's hands and cupped her face gently. "But you are Loki of Asgard. That's how you see yourself. You cannot destroy the place you still love."

Tears shimmered in her eyes. "There is no place for me here. There never will be."

"But that doesn't mean you want to see it destroyed."

"How can you ignore the red?" Loki asked, voice barely above a whisper. "How can you swim in its flow and be so unaffected?"

"What you saw is going to be the beginning, you know that. It's not going to be nameless and faceless numbers. It's not going to be strangers. It's going to be people you know, ones you care for, ones that matter. You know it's coming."

"I cannot stop Thanos. The best I could do was pretend to work with him, and even that failed."

"Then help us track him. Help us find him before he comes here."

"I wouldn't know where to begin. Perhaps the Other would know, but I won't face that one..."

Natasha ignored Loki's shudder, and merely angled her torso a little closer to Loki, obscuring the others from Loki's view. "Who is the Other? I haven't heard of that one before."

"He served as leader of the Chitauri, a go between for them and Thanos." Loki closed her eyes and shuddered. "Full of promises of death and destruction. He kept telling Thanos that I lied, that I couldn't be trusted."

"And you couldn't be."

Loki's eyes snapped open. "I tell you truth."

"And I'm the only one, aren't I?"

A ragged, pained breath, and then Loki reluctantly nodded. "Yes, you are."

"Tell me about the Other. Tell me what you know of him."

"Very little. I know next to nothing of their kind. I didn't need to. I just needed to know that they would serve me without question, that they would quell rebellion if it was offered. They are a vast force, easily bred and altered for war, that it didn't matter if they were slaughtered in droves as long as the task at hand was completed. That was all, I swear to you."

"But you knew about the neural links. You likely know something about their strength, their numbers... What were they giving you to help you?"

"To take over Midgard was supposed to be an easy task. Asgard will not be."

"So what were the numbers for an easy victory?" Natasha pressed.

"I had a hundred thousand ground troops, a thousand Marauders, three warships and one carrier," Loki replied, shaking her head. "It was to be a show of force, to intimidate and control, not annihilate. The ultimate goals are very different."

"To hide an army that sized will take some doing."

"I can't... You don't understand. To scan the known universe is going to take an incredible amount of power. I can't do this."

"The portals that they used in the jarls' homes—"

"May not be where they are permanently stationed. It could be walking into a trap to reopen it."

"Or, we could back track their movements until we find them."

"There's no guarantee that will work."

"There's no guarantee that it won't."

Loki pulled herself away from Natasha, breathing heavily before rolling to her feet. "I will not enter their stronghold. I had nothing to bargain with then, but I have even less now."

"Why? Can they see through your invisibility spells?"

"Their sight does not rely on visible light alone. A fair number are sensitive to smell or motion."

"Well, then. We have to get around that."

Natasha smiled before getting to her feet. "Was that really so hard?"

"Yes. You know it was." Loki had a stricken look on her face as she contemplated the silent members of the room. "I cannot hide them all."

Tony had been making notes on a Starkpad and looked up abruptly at that. "Hey, now. Who said anything about hiding? I for one think we should go in hot and light 'em all up."

Steve and Clint were nodding. "Catch them where they live, decimate their forces before they ever get them off the ground. Then they won't come after Asgard."

"It will attract Thanos' notice," Loki warned.

"Bring it on," Tony said with a grin. "We all know how to fight death-dealing bullies, don't we?"

"You used to consider me one of them," Loki murmured.

"Exactly. It'll be a party."

Natasha let a corner of her lips quirk into something like a smile. "Still don't see how that was a party, Stark. Look at the fallout."

Tony shrugged, then lifted his pad. "Considering the tech here that nobody really considers, plus our know-how, we'll make it a better party. Sound better?"

"Maybe. Let's see how the others are faring."

***

Considering Heimdall didn't want to leave his post, Bruce and Jane took their notebooks and went to him at the Observatory. The three had to come up with common terms, but once they were on the same page, they were discussing the intricacies of the Bifrost, quantum mechanics and directing the size and course of the portals. "There is no technology that cannot be detected in some manner," Heimdall was saying as Tony walked into the Observatory. "Perhaps magic could elude my sight, but even that is a rare thing."

"There are ways in and out of this place that aren't exactly official, right?" Tony asked, curious about the conversation he was walking into.

"Few and not well known," Heimdall allowed. "But most of the means to travel between realms is best served by using the Bifrost. It expends much energy, true, but it will be stable and disperses energies safely."

"And this magic thing... We've started trying to track it on Earth. Er, Midgard."

"I understand your terminology. Doctors Foster and Banner and I have already worked out quite a bit of it to communicate effectively."

"Why don't you just say what's on your mind?" Jane told Tony, looking up from her notebook. She had several piles of paper all around her, all with scribbles and graphs. Bruce had similar piles in front of him as well.

"Oh. Okay, then. I was sitting in on Natasha working Loki over for information on the Chitauri," Tony began, ignoring Bruce's pained expression at his blithe disregard for others. "So, there were portals in and out that they used on Asgard, but apparently some of them had hiding places and outposts. It's probably not the Chitauri home world. Some of them seem to be able to see outside of the visible spectrum of light, some are sensitive to smell, and others have position sense. So, I started sketching out possible schematics for a hovering drone that could collect information, including magic signatures." He approached with his Starkpad.

"Did you see the toys that some of the kids have here?" Jane asked, eyes lighting up. "Studying the propulsion alone could set the field of robotics ahead, not to mention particle physics and gravitational analysis. We were talking with Ketilve, the historian, and wow, talk about how behind we are in mathematics, computer science, physics... It's all there, just how we approach it is so different..."

Bruce chuckled and Heimdall looked amused by her enthusiasm. "In other words, yeah, we can probably build a prototype like this in no time."

"Which is good, because we don't want to be a realm of dead people." Tony looked over at Heimdall, open curiosity on his face. "So, how does that vision of yours work? Because if we're looking to hop through different portals back and forth..."

"I can see individuals on all realms. If they are _between_ realms, or in hidden dimensions, then I would not be able to," Heimdall said gravely. He leveled a look at Tony with his golden eyes, which seemed to be enough to put a dampener on his constant sarcasm for the moment. "But I am the Gatekeeper, and I must do my duty."

"Yeah. Not questioning that at all," Tony said, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "But, if we're going to be going dimension hopping or whatever this is going to be, it's going to be a little less stressful to know that you can keep an eye on us, too."

"I serve as observer over Asgard and her interests. This includes all of you working to neutralize the threat."

"Good. Sif and Natasha are talking with the warriors at the palace now, so we'll have more manpower when this all goes down."

"Wait, seriously?" Jane asked, eyes wide. "You're going to take on psycho killers by hunting them to their home world?"

"They came to our planet uninvited. Why not return the favor?" Tony asked, shrugging.

"How will we know if we got there?" Bruce asked, brows furrowing.

"Well, apparently they have Loki's magic mind whammy stick from before," Tony informed them. "Natasha talked to the dead, as creepy as that sounded, and they pretty much confirmed that tidbit. As well as there being a lot more Chitauri out there than we really want there to be for safety's sake."

Bruce sighed and rubbed his temple. "So we're looking for a faint gamma radiation trace within the known cosmos, when there are other natural sources of radiation. Plus the possible magic resonances. And building a hovering scentless probe to take the hit going through the portal if any of the Chitauri are on the other side."

"See? Brilliant mind at work there," Tony replied with a smile. "It's a simple enough plan, really. We can do it."

"Better get started," Bruce agreed with a slight sigh. It didn't help that Jane was grinning and opened her notebook to a brand new page so the four of them could discuss tracking the radiation and resonance traces.

***

Natasha and Bera moved through the forgotten hallways of the palace. Bera kept her head down and basket of washing in her hands, giving credence to the lies she would have to tell if they were found. Natasha followed her closely and silently, knives hidden beneath the dress sleeves and skirt as usual. The outer robe she wore also readily concealed Loki's twin swords, which were in a scabbard at her waist. The maze of corridors let out into the midden area, the stench all but unbearable. "Are you sure that you can trust this man?" Bera asked, voice warbling with her worry. "You've never actually met him, and I know your friends are here for a reason, not just for feasting and partaking in festivities."

"Did you get word to your brothers?" Natasha asked instead, laying a calming hand on Bera's shoulder. At the girl's nod, she smiled. "Good. We don't know what will happen, but they'll be safe with the transfer. My friends are here because there's a silent war going on. The missing jarls and karls are only part of it."

"The mines," Bera murmured. Though Natasha had never told her what was in them, Bera was clever enough to realize that Loki's wan expression at the mere mention of them meant that something very bad had happened there.

"A great evil is coming, hoping to wipe out Asgard. Once Asgard falls, the rest of the Nine Realms will." Natasha thought the words were a bit overkill, to be honest, but it was in keeping with the tone Asgardians tended to speak in. Bera paled and nodded that she understood the importance of what Natasha was doing. "Remember. I work best in shadow, gathering the whispers at the walls. Don't do anything to get noticed."

"I won't," Bera promised.

The shadows shifted slightly on the other side of the open wasteland. "Time to go. Keep your head down and stay safe."

She moved quickly until she found a tall Asgardian skulking about the area. "Konrad," she guessed, though she had never met him in person before.

He nodded as he looked around the area furtively. "You asked me to get word to you if the situation changed at the estates. You have to come with me."

"What's happened?" she asked, voice firm. She wasn't about to leave the relative safety of the palace just yet.

"Lord Falki beat Gilla unconscious," Konrad choked, unable to meet Natasha's eyes. "I've been forbidden from going to the Healers' Hall, but you could."

"And how would I explain a Healer descending on the estate to take care of Gilla?" she asked archly. While she hadn't met Konrad in person before, Gilla had certainly talked about him enough. This did not match her description at all.

And why wasn't he looking her in the eye?

"Konrad, look at me."

"We have to go, Lady Natasha. I don't know how much longer Gilla will last."

When he actually reached out to touch her, Natasha swung the twin swords out from where they were hidden beneath her cloak. The sharp edge didn't break his skin, but it gave him enough pause to stay still. She tapped the underside of his chin with the flat of the blade, then tipped up his chin to look at his face directly.

Instead of the glowingly described green they were supposed to be, they were bloodshot and icy blue, the same color of the Tesseract.

He lunged at her with a wicked looking blade in hand as soon as she realized what she was seeing, but apparently he or his handlers had seriously underestimated her. As much as she knew Gilla cared for Konrad and he normally loved her above all else, Natasha wasn't about to spare him. There was no contest in getting the long knife knocked out of his hand, but the mind control didn't end when Natasha hit him upside the head with the flat of her sword. Or kicked him in the chin, snapping his head up and back into a pillar. Or when she caught him with a roundhouse kick to the jaw and followed with a punch to the solar plexus and then up in the nose with her bare fist. The flop of his head didn't sit right with her, but Natasha didn't place why right away.

Konrad fell to the ground with each blow, then pushed himself back up to feet. He looked at her with those Tesseract blue eyes, intent expression on his face. "You _will_ come with me," he kept saying over and over again.

"I don't think so," she replied, taking Loki's sword firmly in hand. _I'm sorry, Gilla,_ she thought, noticing the odd angle his head was sitting on his neck. Broken. Yet he still moved fairly fluidly for a dead man.

"The Master wants you there," Konrad finally said.

"Tell him I need an engraved invitation," Natasha replied, swinging the sword. It cleanly severed his head from his neck. Only then did the blue light fade from his eyes, and the body fell in a graceless heap to the ground.

Natasha watched sluggish, nearly-clotted blood leak from the wound. Konrad had been dead for several hours, then, and rigor mortis hadn't set in yet. She didn't care about Falki, but Gilla could be in danger. Konrad never would have willingly left her if she was.

Getting her bearings, Natasha broke out into a run, heading for Gilla's estate.

Everything was in chaos when she arrived, and it was easy to slip into the house without being noticed by house staff. There was a fire in one section of the house, close to the storerooms, the fields were overrun with karls that all had Tesseract blue eyes, and some of their neighbors had brought their own karls to help fight them off. Natasha quickly moved through the house, sword hidden beneath her cloak. She moved faster when she heard crashing sounds from the bedroom, as well as muted shouting.

Falki had a riding crop in hand was beating Gilla with it. She was in a white kirtle and light pink underdress, blood staining it in places. She was sprawled across the floor and trying to shield her face and torso as best as she could from the crop. "...brought them here, you ungrateful, barren bitch. I have given you a name and a home, and there has been nothing but disaster." _Slap._ "These are _my_ lands, _my_ people! _Mine!_ They do not obey you, and you will not undermine my orders ever again!"

His eyes were Tesseract blue as well.

As much as Natasha never would have wanted Gilla to see her kill anyone, Falki was set on beating Gilla to death. She swung her sword before Falki even realized she was there, severing his head from his neck cleanly. Natasha didn't want to think of why there was blood on Gilla's underdress as she grabbed Falki's body. "Get dressed," she told Gilla sharply. "We're getting you out of here."

"But Falki..."

"Do as I say, and we'll get you out of here in a way that will keep you safe."

Gilla nodded, moving creakily. Natasha put the sword back in her scabbard and put Falki's head on his chest. She started dragging the body out of the door as Gilla dressed in one of her heavier dresses, and Natasha quickly headed toward the part of the house where the fires were raging unchecked. Not one servant was in the house now; most were actually outside trying to get well water to put out the fire. It was easy enough to arrange the body under some debris; Asgard didn't seem to care much about forensics, so this would be a convenient enough cover story for Gilla to repeat. The poor woman was so rattled anyway, Natasha refused to feel bad for rearranging her life around. It would have been easier if she simply garroted Falki out in the field somewhere, and Konrad was around to continue being her steward. Natasha had to work with what she had, however.

"Go to your neighbor. Tell them you can't find Falki. Tell them the fire is burning out of control and you need their help for the house."

"What about you?" Gilla asked, pale and jittery. "I can't find Konrad. He left two days ago, but he shouldn't have been gone so long..."

"He's probably looking for you," Natasha lied. It was kinder than telling her the truth. "I'm going to see what I can do about stopping this."

Watching Gilla run out to her neighbors, Natasha sighed. The only way to end this was to stop the Chitauri once and for all.

***

There was no getting around it any longer, really. Too much magic was bound up in her form as it currently was, and even siphoning off power from the Essine Ruby wasn't going to be enough to perform the sheer number of spells that would be necessary. Honestly, Loki didn't care one whit about Stark. But Banner had been kind in his quiet sort of way. Rogers had gone out of his way to try to show Loki a means to earn Natasha's regard, and was a close friend of hers. Barton made no secret of his feelings, but was Natasha's friend as well. And honestly, he could have done far worse while Loki was on Earth in Avengers Tower. It would have been within his power to use the heavy black chains that Natasha had left in his possession, but he had not. He had never abused his power, and neither had Rogers. None of them had. They were not perfect saints, of course, but none had gone out of their way for revenge.

She didn't understand it then, still didn't. They didn't break the illusion that she was Lara except with those that already knew, and were actively trying to help Asgard.

Loki couldn't let them fight this battle while hamstrung. Asgard would burn if she did.

Protection spells, armor spells, shield spells, detection spells, illusion spells... She could do them, but even those spells would break under the sheer volume of Chitauri warriors that would be present on their home world, wherever it was. She closed her eyes, remembering the asteroid that had been devoid of any life yet still housed Thanos, the Other and countless Chitauri awaiting orders silently. Thanos had other generals elsewhere, some looking for the Infinity Gems. Once he had them all in his possession, he could destroy the very fabric of time and space necessary to sustain life. Oh, how Hel would laugh at that.

Head bowed, Loki let the layers of dress and the kirtle fall from her body. This hadn't afforded her further protection or regard. She hadn't understood what she was looking for at the time, either. Now she had better understanding of it, though she still didn't think she could be the creature that Natasha wanted or needed.

If she was completely honest, a rarity in and of itself, Loki knew she had to find something worthy within herself to start with. She didn't know what that could be. She worked magic easily, lied easily, manipulated easily. She wanted control and wanted to give it up. She couldn't trust others but craved having someone to trust. She wasn't _good,_ wasn't the type to give of herself endlessly. Forgiveness and mercy were largely alien concepts. Those weren't ideals she could understand, though Natasha and her friends had the capacity for it.

She was chaos, instability, fury. This was who she _was,_ deep down. Those were aspects she could never change, no matter how hard she tried.

But she would not let Natasha fight the Chitauri without protection. She would not let her go to Helheim, would not let the weight of genocide crush her. The sight of massacres and torture might not give her pause, given the ferocity of humanity, but Loki couldn't let her be subject to it. And because of who they were, her companions couldn't either.

Powerful spells could be made stronger with the energies released by unraveling other powerful spells. Energy could be funneled, transmuted, conserved. That would keep them safe.

And really, it was time. This feminine shell no longer felt safe or comfortable.

Loki had gone with bracelets last time, and this time went with amulets that could be worn against the skin beneath clothing or armor. The amulets were for all of the Avengers, Thor, Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, the three Asgardian generals that volunteered to accompany them, as well as one for herself. Himself. It wouldn't do for Loki to succumb to the Chitauri while the others survived. There was no great wish to visit Helheim anytime soon.

Unraveling the spells so tightly bound into flesh was painful, both mentally and physically. The silencing spells around Natasha's bed had been expanded outward to encompass the entire room, and Loki was glad of it now. Loki screamed, skin sloughing and bones reshaping themselves. It hadn't hurt this much before, but care had been spent in layering the spells slowly. They were now being ripped apart to release as much energy as possible, and that meant ripping everything that made Loki a physical being. She—He—Whatever Loki was, this in between state, hovered over the amulets inscribed with esoteric runes.

He crashed to his knees. He. Maybe. She? Long hair and breasts, cock present. Some kind of mixture between the two. Bones continued to shift and reshape, organs resorbing and others being created out of the mixture.

Loki coughed, blood rising to his lips. Flecks of it fell onto each amulet, and he could feel the magic sinking into the malleable gold. Bending over, he balanced himself on clenched fists and bony knees. He could feel internal organs shift and move, tears rising to his eyes. By the Nine Realms, it _hurt,_ more than Amora's venom had. Screaming and coughing, he continued pulling at the spells he had bound around his body, ripping them apart violently.

By the time he was done, each amulet nearly glowed and pulsed with power. He was lying on his side on the soft carpet, skin oversensitive and raw. He was fully male again, in the Asgardian coloring that his adoptive parents had preferred. _We didn't want you to feel different,_ Frigga had told him. Oh, but she should have known better. He had always been different, always been _other._

He sobbed openly, fingers clutching at the carpeting spastically. He could possibly unravel himself farther, go to the Jotunn form he had been born in, but he wouldn't even recognize himself like that. And could Natasha care for a creature that appeared so different, so hideous and monstrous?

No, that wasn't fair. She had accepted his female form immediately, without any kind of recrimination or doubt. It wasn't simply because she found either gender attractive, but because she saw past that. She had known immediately that Loki was the same regardless of shape.

How had she known, yet he hadn't realized it?

Loki lost track of time, possibly passing out due to the pain and exhaustion that crashed into him as the spells unraveled and he wove new ones about the amulets. Everything hurt, and he pushed himself up to a seated position with a guttural moan of pain. He froze when he saw Natasha sitting there nearby, a concerned expression on her face and knives close at hand.

"Just in case the guards barged in," she said, nodding toward the knives. "They'd have a fight on their hands."

Oh. _Oh._ Loki managed a watery smile at her, and tried to pull at least a thread of magic around himself to fashion into some kind of clothing. It was infinitely soft against his newborn skin, folds and pleats in the dark fabric giving it a semblance of regality. "The amulets are done," he said, his voice a raspy mess. "I unraveled the spells on my person to fuel the ones I needed to place onto them."

"I see," she murmured, gracefully rolling to her feet. The knives were left on the floor. "How are you feeling?"

"Vulnerable," he replied without thinking, lips twitching in a sad smile. "They'll come for me soon, will they not? I'll be beheaded or left swinging from the gallows. But you'll be safe. You and your companions. I did craft one amulet for me should I escape my fate, but it isn't very likely, is it?"

Natasha came forward and rested her fingertips on his lips. "I don't think the palace guards know yet what's going on, and Heimdall won't tell anyone until after we've left."

"A small mercy, then."

Pulling him down by the pleated shirtfront, Natasha gave him a gentle kiss on the lips. "But sometimes those are the things that keep us going."

Loki pulled her flush against him, feeling the burn of the fabric folds pressing and rubbing against his newly formed skin. It was a delicious agony. "If I go to my death, I would have you one last time," he growled against her lips. "I would leave my imprint on your flesh, my ghost upon your skin. I would freeze this moment for an eternity if I could spare the effort, and it still would not be enough time." He stared at her intently, hoping that she understood all that he couldn't bear to say aloud.

Natasha threaded her hands through his soft, wavy hair, scratching lightly at his scalp. "Then you better get started, Loki. Don't worry about me."

His kisses were frenzied against her lips and cheeks and nose, his hands cupped around her chin to keep her in place. Loki choked when Natasha pulled apart the folds in the tunic he had crafted, touching his bare skin. "It's almost too much," he whimpered against her mouth. "I'm too new, too fragile like this."

"Just keep hold of me," Natasha replied, voice soft and gentle. She stroked the skin of his chest, soft and slow, eyes hooded as she contemplated him. "I'll keep you safe."

With a half sob, Loki nodded as he caught her wrist to still her hand. "I know you will. I trust you. You're the only one I trust."

"Take what you need, Loki," Natasha murmured, lifting her other hand to touch his lips gently.

Spinning her around, Natasha grasped the footboard of her bed for balance. Loki lifted her skirts and brushed his fingers against her, using a fragment of magic to get her slick and wet for him. He would not hurt her, would not be selfish in this even if she gave him permission to be. She meant too much to him now, even if he hadn't seen how it could have happened. Buried to the hilt, Loki held onto one breast and her hip tightly, rocking into her but keeping a fraction of space between them to ease the burn in his skin. Leaning his head forward, he touched his forehead to the back of her neck, nearly sobbing as they moved. _I love you,_ he wanted to say, like a prayer he could wind into her skin, yet another protection spell he could give her, one of the small mercies she talked about so much.

But all his plans and hopes and dreams thus far have turned to ashes, and he would not gift her with such a broken thing.

Loki crashed to his knees after spilling inside of her, and Natasha turned around. Sobbing, he clutched her tightly, his face pressed against her stomach and his arms around her legs. "You cannot die, Natasha. I will in your place if I must, but you cannot die."

Her fingers came to rest on the crown of his head, stroking his scalp softly. "Neither of us are going to die, Loki. Chitauri will die, and we'll destroy Thanos and his generals. But we won't die because there's too much work to do. We can't afford to die yet."

He looked up at her, a pleading expression on his face. He didn't care if he knelt in front of her, that he was weak and needy, that he was so tainted by _ergi_ that the stain of it would never wash off. Natasha didn't care about such things, and saw straight into the empty heart of him, yet deigned to watch over him. She protected him. Was that love for her? Was that care something he truly could be worthy of?

Natasha let her fingers fall to his temples. Loki could believe her to be a goddess in that moment, her lips curling into a beatific smile, her hair a bloody halo of braids and curls and jeweled pins all around her face, her eyes blazing with inner fire. "Take a moment, then suit up. Time to get ready for war."

***  
***


	3. Portals

Tony Stark was proud of his masterpiece, a floating robot probe that was largely based off of the technology used by Asgardian children in their balls. It had an interior propulsion system that had fascinated him and Jane; she was enamored of its shifting gravitational properties, which altered its shape and allowed it to float and move at various speeds and heights. Tony had enjoyed playing with the robotics of the probe, using the tools and materials that were available on Asgard. They didn't have vibranium, which would have made him ridiculously giddy to work with, but various alloys of differing density and strength. He was already making adjustments to his Iron Man suit, making diagrams and notations to himself, especially after Thor had assured him that interdimensional trade was one of the goals of a stable Einstein-Rosen Bridge once Jane and Bruce got her formulae tweaked properly.

As much as it irked him to have the palace historian tell him that his technology and interfaces were antiquated and not the state of the art tech he had assumed they were, Tony did listen to her suggestions for upgrades. Ketilve never once made herself sound superior just because she held this knowledge and he didn't. If anything, she reminded him of one of his first really good teachers at MIT, enthusiastically lighting the spark of interest for robotics and engineering in the first place. The wireless tech allowing the probe to communicate with his receiver was beyond bleeding edge by Earth standards, making him feel almost giddy. Upgrades like this would make Extremis and other such nanobots look awkward. JARVIS would be damn near invincible if Tony could wire up the entire Avengers Tower with this tech.

Bruce insisted on building several probes, in case Chitauri destroyed the first one. Jane insisted on several different sensor arrays that Tony personally thought were unnecessary, but had installed anyway. Her goals were slightly different than his, after all. She wanted raw data to analyze and extract information from. Tony just wanted the hovering probe to see if Chitauri were present or not.

Loki had been a pale wreck when he had handed out amulets of protection, a beleaguered ghost of himself that reminded Tony of SHIELD footage when he stole the Tesseract and corrupted Selvig and Clint. His skin had a sickly, feverish cast to it, his hair was stringy, and there were deep shadows like bruises beneath his eyes. Fatigue dogged his every step, and his eyes darted everywhere. He looked like a combat veteran in the throes of a flashback, to be perfectly honest, and Tony wondered about all the things that he and Natasha had never said about what had happened before he had arrived on Earth nearly four years ago. If she knew, Natasha would never tell him. She was the sort whose secrets had secrets, and Tony wasn't exactly one of her best friends. Still, Tony was clever and could read between the lines. When Amora tortured him with the acidic venom, Loki had implied it wasn't the first time he had been tortured. It never would have happened on Asgard, no matter what Odin thought of him.

Which meant it happened after he fell from the Bifrost, before Thanos and the Other sent him to Earth. It really didn't matter whether it was Thanos and the Other, someone before them, or all of the above. Drifting through the vacuum of space was probably enough to drive anyone crazy, and Loki hadn't been wrapped too tightly to start with. Plus the movement through space and time and magic or whatever else Yggdrasil was supposed to be made of... Any of that could have turned Loki into an even crazier version of himself without explicit torture.

He didn't want to empathize in any way with Loki. Tony had a reputation to keep as a selfish, irritating bastard, even if he was philanthropic. Not to mention that Loki was a sociopath in every sense of the word. Even Tony had scruples. Loki was chaos incarnate.

Leading them all to the basement of an abandoned estate, Loki continued to look like a jittery addict in need of his next fix. Then again, the threat of discovery and death probably made him all twitchy and hypervigilant that way. Natasha, Clint and Steve also constantly scanned rooms for exits and hiding places, but were far more subtle about it.

"Okay, Horns," Tony began, seeing no point in coddling Loki. "Open it up and let's get this show on the road."

To Tony's surprise, Loki didn't even scoff at him or demand some kind of royal respect. He simply nodded at the group of them, then began his casting. It was underwhelming to look at, a few flicks of his fingers and a twist of his wrist.

The portal shimmered, rather like a skin of water over ice. The little robotic probe went through it without any difficulty, telemetry sending back continual signals.

On the other side of the portal was a dark, barren place with craggy hills and cliffs. The entire landscape was swathed in darkness, clouds covering the sky and blotting out any light sources. There was a clearing in the midst of all the hills, as if the probe was in what once had been a lake bed that had since boiled off. The atmosphere was comparable to that of Earth or Asgard, with an oxygen content of about 23%, mostly inert gases and most surprisingly, a distinct lack of water vapor. Perhaps the "water boiled off" theory wasn't entirely inaccurate, but what could possibly be generating the oxygen?

"Over there," Jane said, pointing something on her monitor.

Oops. Tony had been thinking out loud again, though this was helpful. Sending the probe in the direction Jane indicated, there was a generator of some kind, a machine that was breaking down the rock formations in one cliff. It generated the oxygen and also reduced the stone to elements that fell into neat little piles.

"That looks like it's ready to be harvested."

"There are seven other portals," Loki said at the same time Bruce spoke. There was a pinched look on his face, something probably akin to fear. Loki afraid of something?

The more Tony thought about it, the more he wanted to know what it was. And the more he thought that it was probably going to be something spectacular and spectacularly bad at the same time. But that was what the probe was for, after all. He, Bruce and Jane had built five of them total, and it didn't take much to get the other four up and running to explore the other portals that Loki pointed out.

"Where do you think this is, Horns?" Tony asked Loki.

It wasn't enough of a distraction for the trickster. That pinched look was still on his face, and his eyes still darted everywhere. "I would think an asteroid of some kind. The Chitauri tend to use them as refueling bases."

Tony filed that away to figure out later. He'd want an analysis of that generator Jane found, as well as what materials were piled up neatly beneath it. He was taking it upon himself to be a clean energy source rather than a warmonger, so any information could be useful. He hadn't really gotten a good look at the Chitauri in space before sending the nuke their way, and his nightmares were still littered with glittering stars and the rush of air as he fell, hurtling through empty space toward certain death.

"How many of them are there?" Volstagg asked, frowning at Tony's display of the empty possible-asteroid that the probe was transmitting back. Tony ignored the way that Volstagg, Fandral and Thor seemed to side-eye Loki, as if he was ready to explode. Or they should start running to the palace guards to order an execution.

"There will be as many Chitauri as they need," Loki murmured. "They are able to mature quickly in the right conditions, and are seen as expendable. All they know is war."

All eyes were on Loki, and his jaw tightened as he fixed his eyes on the view screen in Tony's hands. "That is what I had been promised."

"We could always go through," Tony found himself saying, and couldn't decide if he wanted to kick his own ass or pat himself on the back. "There's oxygen enough, no bad guys destroying the probe. That gives us one more portal to explore."

"Best to take care," Loki warned them. "They left those portals open for a purpose."

"Then you'd better leave yours open, too," Tony replied easily before anyone else could. "If it goes south quick, we need an exit strategy."

"I can put in anchors, so that there is not constant attention required," Loki began slowly. He lifted his eyes from the view screen and looked at Natasha, whose expression remained impassive. Tony couldn't read the look in her eyes, but thought it was something like concern. Pepper got that look in her eyes a lot when he spent too many days in the workshop. It still felt wrong and unnatural to worry about Loki, but he had thought about the entire fucked up situation and talked it over with Pepper for perspective before arriving in Asgard. Spies' worlds were never black and white, just endless shades of gray, compromising principles for the sake of a greater good. As a spy, Natasha would willingly take on a psychopath if it would keep the Earth safe from harm. Her idea of balance would consider that an acceptable risk. Still, some part of Tony would rather just punch Loki in the face and be done with it.

Volstagg kept a tight grip on his weapon and leveled a hearty glare at Loki. "Such a creature would take advantage of leaving us stranded on an asteroid with limited resources." Anger twisted his features, and Tony almost thought he was going to swing the battleaxe at Loki's head, severing it himself.

"We have need of his knowledge and skill against this foe," Thor intoned heavily, raising his head to stare down Volstagg. When he would have said something, Thor shook his head sharply to stop him. "Hold, friend. This is not the time to fight amongst ourselves."

"What do you get out of this?" Fandral asked, voice cool and calm. His gaze was assessing as he looked over Loki. Tony thought that Loki didn't look particularly ready to harm anyone in the room; he'd seen SHIELD footage of the Battle of New York when he had burst through JARVIS' sensors to get to Natasha, and this was a completely different version of Loki. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something just a little bit off about the trickster.

He had a beaten, defeated look about him. And honestly, that was more disturbing to Tony than the maniacal, sickly grin from SHIELD surveillance. That reminded him of how Loki looked after Amora had him chained and tortured, how he looked when trying to cut himself apart because he thought he was a monster.

Loki was crazy, but he was also _broken_ in places, and the Asgardians couldn't see it. Natasha did, of that Tony was certain. But if the Asgardians didn't see how broken Loki was beneath the crazy megalomania, that meant he could snap and unleash whatever he might have up his sleeve. Tony was sure it wouldn't be pretty.

The smile Loki pasted onto his face was like the smile he had when he first arrived on Earth via the Tesseract. "Thanos can't have Asgard or her riches. The vaults must remain sealed."

Sif's eyes were sharp when she contemplated Loki, and for a terrifying moment Tony thought that Pepper had to be related to her in some way. "Do you bargain for its contents?"

His laughter was sharp and bitter. "But Sif, did you not know? I am a portion of its contents as well. Dear Odin sought all kinds of treasures. Why content himself with mere trinkets and baubles, when he could hold entire lifetimes in his hands?"

Volstagg pointed in Loki's direction with his battleaxe, jaw set. "You speak treason."

"I've already been declared a dead man," Loki replied, leveling his stare in Volstagg's direction. "What's another charge?"

"Shall we call the guards?" Fandral asked, voice cool and even.

"Nay," Thor intoned, staring down his friends with a stern expression. Tony would have to correct his impression that Thor was like a humanoid equivalent of a golden retriever puppy. He had some teeth when pressed.

The axe was still pointed at Loki, Volstagg glaring at the trickster with hate in his eyes. "You betray us, you die."

"Step in line," Loki replied evenly. Tony recognized the expression on his face. He would be defiant to the end, even if he knew it was a losing battle it was the only way to maintain some kind of dignity when he felt as though he had lost everything.

Tony had seen that expression in the mirror plenty of times before Afghanistan, and it unnerved him that he had _anything_ in common with Loki.

 _The enemy of my enemy is my friend,_ he told himself, ruthlessly squelching down any sympathy he might be feeling toward Loki. _Thanos is the bigger issue here. The Chitauri have to be put down. I did it once, I can do it again._

"Okay," Jane called out from where she was huddled with Bruce over a tablet, "now that you're done measuring who's bigger, can we get back to the task at hand?"

If she wasn't so obviously wrapped up in Thor and he wasn't so thoroughly involved with Pepper, Tony could have kissed her. Jane dealt with bullshit like this on a regular basis, and she clearly was through listening to that kind of talk. Good for her. He grinned and clapped his hands as if the entire tense interlude had been a particularly good show. "All right. Portal. Not the game, of course, but these things we're planning to walk through and commit serious genocidal atrocities in the name of peace." He ignored Thor's sigh and the scowls of Volstagg and Sif. Fandral seemed to be waiting for what else he had to say. "What do you think, Dr. Foster?"

"You and Bruce came up with algorhythms to track magic and Loki in particular on Earth. There are the faint gamma traces from the Tesseract and the scepter, which are entirely different even if they look like they overlap in places." Pointing to the portal still open in front of them all, Jane flashed them a confident smile. "Meaning, I think I can be the one to stay here and keep this portal open just by maintaining the feedback loops. He can do his anchor thing, and after that, I can be the one keeping the way home open."

Fandral was the first one to recover after that pronouncement. He bowed deeply in her direction, the corners of his lips quirking into a smile. "Lady Dr. Foster, you truly are a credit to your people and a genuine friend of Asgard."

Jane preened a bit, and her smile widened into an excited grin when she looked over at Thor. "I'll be right here, making sure it all goes according to plan."

"Excellent news, Jane," Thor boomed, pleased relief evident. "We will scout ahead, then return with as large a force as necessary."

That seemed to quiet the other Asgardians' misgivings. Once Loki did his anchoring magic, Volstagg prodded him with the axe to enter the portal first. He went through as gracefully as he could, then Volstagg went through the portal. Thor, Sif and Fandral went through next. Tony snapped the faceplate of his armor down, then went through. Steve didn't bother with a helmet prior to walking through the portal, and Bruce heaved a long suffering sigh. Clint and Natasha were last through, and Tony looked back to see how Jane was faring. Almost as if she knew he wanted a little reassurance, she grinned and flashed him a thumbs up sign as she held onto the tablet with her other hand. A simple touch command had the remaining probes zooming through the portal to meet them.

The asteroid had slightly less gravity than Asgard did, so each step brought the warriors farther and faster than they expected. The probes zoomed ahead into different portals, sending back signals that Tony's suit then relayed through the portal behind them for Jane to interpret. When he looked back through it, she was happily tapping away on the tablet and scribbling in one of her two notebooks. He could see the generator in the distance, and flew to it in order to try to analyze its structure and purpose. The rest of the team fanned out and tried to look for any hidden pockets of Chitauri, but the entire asteroid seemed to be deserted.

Each probe sent back data, and Tony recalled two of them to enter the other portals and scan for any information. "Hey, I think I have a pattern!" Jane called out triumphantly after a while. "I'm cross referencing what the probes are getting with Ketilve's library, and I think I know where all those portals actually lead to. C'mon back!"

Though there was no real need to, Loki left the anchors for portal back to Asgard open. The barren asteroid on the other side of the portal almost looked like a hyperrealistic painting as a result, and Tony stood staring at it just to be sure no Chitauri would spring out suddenly and attack them all.

Okay, he might have had more than a few nightmares of just that scenario. Complete with panic attacks, but only Pepper really needed to know about those.

"The portals open to seven different planets that are called companion realms in Ketilve's archives," Jane began. "They were companions to some of the lower realms, and in the archives held a lot of natural resources that the primary realm didn't. So Muspelheim's companion realm would have water, forests, that kind of thing. They're small, not considered a part of the realm and generally didn't figure into the stories about each realm."

The Asgardians all nodded in agreement. "Companions are small. They allow each realm a measure of independence from the other realms, though there could be communication or trade if they agreed to it," Thor told the others.

"Well, here's the thing," Jane said, looking at everyone in the room. "The archive data is thousands of years old. Ketilve admitted that no one really bothers to fact check or update them on a regular basis. She adds or changes things as she discovers them, or information is brought to Asgard and made public."

"Realms don't change, Lady Jane," Fandral told her helpfully. "There really is no need to continually update the palace archives."

"Except that it means Ketilve's data is potentially thousands of years out of date," Jane pointed out. She lifted up the tablet. "These companion realms look like they've been harvested for some time. Longer than this asteroid here, even."

"Harvested?" Clint asked, frowning.

"Exactly. As in, the forests are gone, razed to the ground. Lake beds dried up. No animals present on any of the worlds. Generators like that one left behind to maintain an atmosphere and to leave behind natural resources that can be used as fuel or trade."

Stunned silence greeted Jane's announcement. "But..." Fandral began faintly. "They are populated. Companion worlds are not empty shells."

"They are now," Jane told him firmly. "So it looks like the Chitauri have no home world, only several planets that they inhabit that used to belong to others." She looked at the others, a mix of compassion and regret in her expression. "No one's there. Not on any of those seven worlds. The Chitauri must have annihilated the local population to take their resources. The Chitauri aren't even there anymore, but it looks like a refueling base next to each portal."

"So they kill everyone, take what they want, then move on to the next world that Thanos directs them to," Clint summarized, looking at Natasha and Steve with something like dread in his eyes. It was undoubtedly what the Chitauri had planned for every other realm on Yggdrasil.

"Jesus Christ," Tony sighed, shaking his head. "That's like a bad scifi movie in action. I don't have to apologize to all the people I called a hack, do I?"

Bruce sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "We need to do something."

"It looks like the generators have alarms and other kinds of relay systems," Tony said helpfully. "So we could always draw the Chitauri to one of those worlds and start kicking their asses."

"I think that's the best plan we have so far," Steve sighed, looking at the Asgardians. "If they haven't got a single world to defend, at least we can spread out their resources and try to cut them down a little at a time."

Thor nodded and looked at his fellow Asgardians. "Now we take the fight to them."

***

Loki was invisible when a relatively large scouting party of trained warriors went with an Asgardian or Avenger into each of the seven worlds that the portals opened out to. Jane agreed to continue monitoring the portal that was in Engmarr's basement; though he could have possibly opened a new one in a more comfortable part of the estate, the others all agreed with him that it would be a waste of time. If the Chitauri were able to follow the warriors back to asteroid, they wanted ample warning to retreat and destroy the anchors for the portal. Loki could always open a new portal later if they needed it.

He followed Natasha and Clint, feeling like a ghost. He hadn't felt it this intensely when following Natasha on her missions on Earth, perhaps because he knew that she sensed his presence and still reacted to it on occasion. Here, she was no longer able to.

Natasha carefully sabotaged the generator as Tony Stark had directed, Hawkeye on the alert for when the Chitauri would arrive. The Asgardian warriors were all on alert, not knowing how many of the Chitauri they would have to fight or how intense it would be.

They didn't have to wait long.

A portal looking rather like the large one fueled by the Tesseract over New York City opened up over the planet's sky. A Leviathan emerged, its six pairs of flippers guiding it through the atmosphere and down for a graceful landing. Before that, oval sections of its armor opened up and a Chitauri warrior jumped down from the Leviathan, a tether cord slowing descent just enough that they didn't hit the ground with a bone-shattering impact. They noticed Clint, Natasha and the Asgardian warriors immediately, removing weapons from their attached locations on their armor and starting to charge.

"Close that portal and go to the others," Natasha told Loki in staccato Russian. "Cut them off as fast as you can."

"I can't leave you—"

 _"Just do it!"_ she barked, charging forward into the fray with the Asgardian warriors. She had his twin swords, at least, and Clint had his quiver full of arrows and his bow. There was no way he would have enough to battle an entire Leviathan corps of Chitauri foot soldiers, so Loki surreptitiously cast a spell on the quiver to replenish its ammunition before moving to close the portal on this planet. It wasn't fast enough; dozens of chariots arrived, single or double riders anchored to them to provide aerial support for the foot soldiers. This portal was large and easy to take apart, but that didn't cut the communication lines to the mother ship. The Chitauri foot soldiers and chariot riders continued to fight as Loki slipped sideways and _between_ to the other planets.

It was the same situation on the other six planets, and closing the portals didn't cut the neural link as it had on Earth years ago.

"Goddamn upgrades!" Tony Stark growled when he realized that. The repulsor blasts hurt the foot soldiers but didn't disable them for long. Loki could see that he quickly started funneling the foot soldiers toward the warriors on the ground to battle, and the Hulk was jumping up to knock the chariots out of the sky. Asgardian warriors moved to slay the Chitauri foot soldiers, though they were outnumbered three to one.

On his planet, Steve was using his shield to knock down Chitauri foot soldiers and hit the chariots from below, destabilizing their flight patterns. Still, there was only so much a shield bash could do against the Chitauri, and most didn't stay down until Asgardian warriors cut them down. There was a look of intense concentration on Steve's face, and he barked out orders to the Asgardians with military precision and enough presence that they followed all of his orders without question.

Sif led the fray on her planet, cutting down more Chitauri warriors than were able to hit her or her shield. Occasionally she or one of the Asgardian warriors took a Chitauri spear to hurl at the chariots overhead, but otherwise the greatest detriment to their battle was the hail of energy blasts coming from above. Before slipping sideways again, Loki created an ice storm over the chariots. The icicles were lethal needles that hit the Chitauri and damaged the chariots, sending them crashing. Because of the magical nature of the icicles, however, they melted to mere water when approaching Sif or the Asgardians. Stray icicles impaled foot soldiers, helping to reduce some of the bloodbath for the warriors.

Thor simply called a lot of lightning and threw Mjolnir around on his planet, though his warrior complement took heavy damage from the foot soldiers. He bellowed commands when Chitauri foot soldiers looked as though they wanted to make a break for the generator. It was silly; of course Thor hadn't followed Stark's directions and simply took Mjolnir to the generator and demolished the entire thing. He didn't seem to need the same amount of help that Sif did, so Loki continued slipping sideways to the planets where Volstagg and Fandral had led the charge. They had similar difficulties as Sif, as the chariots wreaked considerable havoc over the ground forces. It didn't even seem to matter if the foot soldiers were hit alongside Asgardian warriors when shots went wide. The foot soldiers kept fighting, kept advancing. Loki generated the ice storms on both worlds, which he hoped would even the odds. Volstagg seemed to twitch in irritation when the storm hit, but Fandral kept right on fighting as if the ice or rain meant nothing.

Loki cycled back to the world where Natasha and Clint were fighting. Though all of the portals admitting more Chitauri were closed, he could feel the push of another trying to open. Covered in the bluish-black blood as well as her own red blood, Natasha was still continuing to fight with swords and her usual acrobatic style. "The portals are all closed, but there are heavy losses on both sides," he told her. He wanted to layer healing spells on her, even if the amulet she was wearing should have done that. Which meant that the blood hadn't been from a Chitauri blade or energy blast, but friendly accidents or an overhead explosion.

"We need to finish this and get going," Natasha said, her voice coming in short pants. "You'll have to coordinate, get us out as soon as possible."

The only one that some of them would trust would be Jane, collating information and observing everything from her safe perch. She had no reason to trust him, either, but she was likely going to be the best solution to coordinating battles on seven fronts.

Loki quickly returned to Engmarr's basement and dropped his invisibility glamour. "There were more Chitauri than expected," he told her without preamble. "I don't believe the others would trust that coming from me, though it is indeed true."

Jane frowned at him, brows furrowed. "I saw massive energy spikes on the sensor arrays," she began, though Loki tuned out much of the discussion regarding the data she had been monitoring via probes and sensors on the Iron Man suit of armor. "Will they be able to defeat the Chitauri?" she asked finally.

He hesitated slightly. "The ones you know will likely survive, if injured. But many of the other warriors have already fallen."

Lips pressed together unhappily for a moment, she looked from Loki's expression to the tablet she had been taking notes from. "Can you help them out?"

"I generated ice storms on three of the seven worlds."

"Not what I meant. I mean, help them _out_ of those worlds?"

"It would be cowardice to abandon battle prior to its completion. I doubt they would accept such a thing," Loki told her plainly. The mortals might not mind, but the Asgardians certainly would.

If anything, that made Jane look even more displeased. "Stupid macho Asgardian bullshit," she muttered, shaking her head. Tapping out a sequence on the tablet, she waited for an alert to flash on the screen before shouting "Regroup as fast as possible! Back to the asteroid if you have to!"

"What will that do?" Loki asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"They won't leave the battle? Then they should move to someplace they can have more allies."

Loki nodded and looked at her a little more intently. Perhaps he had dismissed her too soon, if there was such a strong will within her. It was likely what had drawn Thor's interest. "It will likely take more than mere brawn to overwhelm Chitauri forces."

Jane leveled a steady glance at him, as if expecting him to come up with a clever ploy. "Then you better start making plans for that, shouldn't you?"

Though Loki was willing to cast illusion and storm spells on the asteroid to help slaughter the last of the Chitauri forces, he had no concrete plan that was able to use everyone's skills. It was disheartening that the Chitauri were stronger than they used to be, and that too many Asgardian warriors had fallen. Truth be told, Loki was far more concerned about Natasha's injuries, and the ones that his amulets haven't been able to prevent. He remained silent and invisible as all of the survivors left Engmarr's estate and returned to the safety of the palace to mull over the gravity of the battles fought. Loki only dropped his invisibility spell once Clint closed and locked the door, as he was the last to enter the meeting room.

"This is fucking ridiculous," Clint said, nearly slinging his bow across the room in frustration. It was the same feeling that all of the others had, though he was the first to voice it. 

Natasha scrubbed at her face tiredly, ignoring the blood and dirt she was spreading over her face and into her hair. "We need to plan ahead—"

"For what?" Clint snapped. "Annihilation? That's what they want—"

"Asgardians will not bow before this threat," Thor said, shaking his head. "We may have lost many a warrior, but we have more here. Now we know what we face—"

"At what cost?" Volstagg jumped in. "Or is it cost to our people alone? Do we call in other allies to aid us in the fight against the Chitauri?"

"To look weak?" Sif scoffed.

"It is no weakness if we simply state that we are giving them the opportunity for glory," Fandral said, collapsing into a chair.

"Other realms would believe no such thing," Sif said, shaking her head. "Not when our people have shed blood for their peace."

"So it is up to us and Midgard," Thor said, shutting down any potential argument. "They have formidable weapons, and we were able to stop a Chitauri army with only the seven of us against their foot soldiers, chariots and Leviathans. Though we have been injured, we all still are capable of battle. Many of our foes died. We are still victorious."

"For how long?" Clint snapped. "It didn't happen today, but eventually I'm going to be out of trick arrows. They spawn more of those gray-skinned bastards, and they're all connected. Closing the portal didn't work, so the network isn't based on some kind of weird intergalactic mother ship like before. We don't know where their neural network is even housed, so we can't shut 'em down that way."

"Not to mention we don't have a nuke." Tony shrugged when everyone stared at him. "What? I doubt we could ask Eyepatch for one. He'll have a stroke."

Bruce looked exhausted, and turned to Tony. "Between your sensors and the probes floating around, Jane probably has a lot of data to analyze. We might be able to find a likely target for the neural hub. We can probably create an explosive big enough to knock it out."

"Or use magic," Natasha said quietly.

There was a collective hush among all of the people in the study. "That is a very dangerous endeavor," Loki said finally. His eyes didn't settle on one particular place, and he held himself stiffly against the wall, farthest from the door. He didn't feel safe, even if it was it was locked and there were promises made to keep his current status a secret.

"Dangerous for whom?" Fandral asked, eyebrow lofted in query.

Loki saw it as a challenge to his skill and knowledge, so he couldn't help but bristle at Fandral's tone. "For all of us. There are different offensive spells that can be used, but most of them will affect a rather large area. So depending on the nature of the spell I cast and the placement of Asgardian troops..."

"Collateral damage," Natasha remarked, voice carefully neutral.

"Our warriors expect to fight a foe in honest combat," Volstagg said, shaking his head.

"Such things are never useful unless it benefits you directly, is it?" Loki snarled, eyes flashing dangerously. "If magic is so intolerable, you should not have reaped rewards from trickery you all have asked me to perform. You would not wear that protective amulet now."

Volstagg's hands twitched as if he was tempted to yank it from around his neck. He didn't however; the sheer violence of the battle meant that every advantage in staying safe and alive could make the difference long term in the war against the Chitauri and Thanos' other allies.

"Hold," Sif said, exhaustion in her tone of voice. "Please," she added when Volstagg looked ready to say something cutting to Loki.

"This is exactly what they want," Steve said suddenly. He had collapsed into a chair as well, and his entire posture was one of exhaustion. Still, determination burned in his eyes. "They want us beaten and defeated. I'm sure they'd love it if we fought among ourselves. It saves them the trouble of cutting us all down."

"They were not as easily defeated as promised," Fandral commented, eyeing Loki.

"They're all networked together. They probably learned a lot after the Battle of New York. We did, so why can't they?" Steve reasoned.

"If only there was a way to figure out how the neural network actually worked," Bruce said with a sigh. "Then we'd figure out how to block it."

"Right. Because we can really figure out alien wifi," Clint snarked.

"Guys?" Jane called out from her perch in the corner of the room. She had the tablet in front of her and looked as though she had spent the entire argument time finalizing calculations of some sort. "It's not really wifi, but that's a good concept to start with."

"What? You're serious?" Clint asked, eyebrows raised. "Look, it's only in movies where alien tech and ours jive that well."

"It's not exactly that, but it functions the same way wifi would with computers." Jane paused, obviously trying to come up with an easy way to explain the concept. "It's a specific frequency that allows all of them to communicate, kind of like networked computers more than a hive mind. Each one functions separately, doing its own thing. But the collective has so much more processing power, and that's what makes them able to coordinate on a massive scale. It takes a lot of energy to do that, and once you cut the connection suddenly, it causes a big feedback loop that is something like a short circuit."

"That's what happened in New York."

"Right. I don't have any data to compare this to," she agreed, indicating the tablet, "but that's the theory I'm working with at the moment."

"Sounds like it's a workable theory," Bruce commented, rubbing at his face tiredly. "After all, magic has a distinct algorhythm, and there subtle differences in the harmonics of different casters. So why wouldn't there be something to track the Chitauri?"

"But if you can track them..." Clint began.

"Then we can find the source of the frequency," Jane finished with a grin. "So that will solve your problem of the neural link."

Tony rubbed his hands together in anticipation despite his exhaustion. "All right, then. So we craft ourselves some sensors and start tracking down those Chitauri bastards." He grinned at the others in the room. "Time to have them on the run for a change."

***  
***


	4. Ready For Battle

Natasha knew exactly when Loki fell into step beside her and Clint as they walked through the palace hallways. Both humans were utterly exhausted and had given up on trying to work on battle strategy in what Clint had dubbed the War Room. Steve, Thor, Sif, Volstagg and Fandral were there to draft a plan to present to Odin. Tony, Bruce and Jane were working on tracking the precise signature that would lead them to the Chitauri. Clint had decided that there was no point in their staying, and had started feeling restless. The two of them were still covered in grime and sweat, battered and bruised with scabbed cuts and sour exhaustion clinging to their clothes. Most of her cuts had healed over already, her bruises faded to greens and yellows. Clint's were still vivid purple-blue of fresh bruises, and he would be aching and sore for another day or two. He couldn't sit still, anxiety burning beneath his skin. Natasha knew the perfect place to walk and talk without too many eyes or ears prying.

Somewhere along the way, Clint began talking about how strange it had been to have a female Loki in Avengers Tower while she was away. Steve had taken it upon himself to try drawing her out of her self-imposed exile and self-abuse, and Clint had felt uncomfortable seeing it. On one level, he liked knowing Loki wasn't all powerful. But he also hated himself for gloating at another's misery. "How am I any different from Barney or my old man, then?"

When Natasha made her noncommittal supportive noise, Clint started alluding to his old nightmares returning. In them, the sky was pitch black and streaked with violets and electric blues, no clouds or stars in sight. Natasha was standing on the edge of a cliff in sleek black clothes, her hair hanging in vivid red coils that dripped blood. It created a river down her back, flowing between her legs and then off of the cliff in a waterfall. She stared off into the inky night sky, her expression a mystery. All he knew was that he couldn't approach her, couldn't help her, couldn't save her or anyone else. He was all but invisible, knowing what was about to happen next, but unable to prevent it. She stepped forward from her aggressive stance, arms spread to hasten her fall off the edge.

He woke in a cold sweat, nearly screaming. Every. Single. Time.

Aware that Loki was listening, Natasha didn't want to betray Clint's confidence. She grasped his hand in hers, fingers linked tightly together in silent support. There was no point in saying something trite, no need for false hope.

"I dream of fire," Natasha said quietly. "It all blends together, the fires that change the direction my life will take. It could be the fire when I was the child about to be thrown from the window, or the child about to set one to cover my tracks. Or I'm older, and it's comfort against the cold in a safe house. Or after that, when I burn the Red Room to the ground." She squeezed Clint's hand a little. "But in the end, all that's left is me. I'm always alone, too."

"You'll always have me."

She smiled at him, soft and sweet, infinite kindness of the kind that few knew could exist in her heart. "I know. And that means more to me than words can ever say."

"Yeah, well, people like us aren't good at words anyway."

Natasha nodded. "You're family, Clint," she said softly. "That's why it's a nightmare if I'm alone at the end of it." She could almost feel Loki's sharp intake of breath beside her, still invisible. Clint needed to hear the words, but it gave Loki more information than she had initially wanted him to have. Then again, Loki had known from the start that Clint was important to her.

Clint just laughed a little. "Flatterer," he said. He eventually led them to a bench in the garden and sat heavily on its stone top. "Thanks, though."

"It's not going to be easy to get rid of the Chitauri," Natasha murmured.

"We're still not soldiers."

"There isn't anyone else." She sat down beside him, shoulder to shoulder. Loki settled down on her other side, his hand ghosting over her thigh almost hesitantly before settling on her knee. It made her sigh, eyes falling shut. "They aren't aware of the dangers here, almost willfully so. I found out how widespread the danger actually was here, and no one wanted to believe me until I showed the Chitauri staff that was found. Not to mention the rumors among the warriors and lesser jarls that they can't silence anymore. They believe in their own hype, and it's going to destroy them all."

"I'm sure they didn't take that pronouncement well," Clint told her dryly.

Natasha opened her eyes and tilted her head to look at him with a wry smile. "What do you think?" she asked in answer.

He laughed again, this time a little more genuine. "I think you probably made more waves than you planned to make." Bumping her shoulder in a friendly manner, Clint grinned. "Some spy you make here."

"I was sent here as an Ambassador, thank you very much," she huffed, a thread of amusement in her tone. "It's not my fault they're petty, misogynistic and socially backward even as they have such advanced tech it might as well really be magic."

Clint fell silent for a moment. "Let's say we stop them," he began slowly. "What then? They keep you on here as an Ambassador? When do you get to return to Earth? To the rest of us?"

"I'm sure I could arrange something," Natasha said, looking off in the distance. "Heimdall will be able to help, and the royals probably don't want me around all the time."

"You could blend in anywhere..."

"Doesn't mean I want to," Natasha said quietly. "They don't want to hear what I really have to say, and there are only so many things I can do to distract myself here. I'd rather be working. I'd rather do something useful."

"So if they have you stay..." Clint began.

"I'm sure there will be something Fury needs me called back for." She smiled at Clint. "I'm still the best he's got, no matter what some of the other agents may say."

Clint smiled at her. "They like to think they're as good as you."

"That's the thing that people always seem to forget... It's not just test scores that make or break an agent. It's how you use the knowledge in the field, how you're able to get in and out without being seen..." Natasha shrugged. "Most can't translate scores from the lab to the field."

"But the Chitauri don't care about that," Clint replied when she fell silent. "What are we going to do about _that_ threat?"

"Considering how much damage we did on their refueling outposts? I'm sure they'll track us down sooner or later. The biggest issue will be taking them down and keeping them there."

"It'll be the Battle of New York, but on a larger scale."

"Isn't everything on Asgard?" she asked, eyebrow raised. He grinned at her, and they fell into a companionable silence for a while.

"What are you going to do about Loki?" Clint asked finally.

Natasha could feel the invisible trickster stiffen beside her. "What about him?"

"Is there anything you have to do there?"

"He can't stay on Asgard if he wants to live. SHIELD will work with him if that's what he wants to do," Natasha replied, shrugging. "That has nothing to do with me."

"Tash," Clint chided. "That has _everything_ to do with you."

She looked away from him and refused to look in Loki's direction. Dammit, she hadn't wanted to ever have to define that _thing_ between her and Loki. "I don't force him to consult."

"Now you're splitting hairs. He got those rings and amulet because you thought it might help with a case you were working on. You were both tortured. And you didn't see him—her, while you were away." Natasha thought of Tony coming to her with his detection app, his concern with how Loki circled New York City because of her. "He loves you, you know."

"Love is for children," she replied automatically.

"Yeah. He still loves you."

Natasha looked off into the distance, not wanting to look in either direction. Clint knew her far too well and Loki was waiting with bated breath for her response. "I'm not capable of such things," she said finally, knowing both men wanted a response. She also knew it for the vicious lie that it was.

Clint made a disappointed clucking noise but didn't contradict her outright. "They didn't destroy everything good about you, you know."

"They didn't have to," Natasha sighed. "I helped them do it. I did it to myself."

"Things wouldn't hurt so much if you didn't have the capacity to care."

She could sling back _You're the expert at that, aren't you?_ but that would be cruel, and she was never intentionally cruel to Clint if she could help it. He had his own demons, just as she did, and they respected each others' boundaries and silences. Natasha looked down at her lap, feeling but not seeing Loki's hand on her knee, seeing Clint's hands on the bench beside her but not feeling his touch.

"Capacity doesn't matter," Natasha murmured after a moment. "I _can't._ I won't open myself up to something like that again."

Unsurprised, Clint merely nodded. "And if you're constantly working, you don't have to."

"Someone's got to do it. And I have my ledger to balance."

He turned his head and kissed her cheek tenderly. "But don't lose what's left of yourself in the balance, Tasha. Being everything for everyone else won't win you any prizes in the end. It only leaves you alone and empty."

"Not if I've got you."

"And Steve," he reminded her. "And Bruce, and believe it or not, Tony and Pepper. Thor and his friends love you, too."

"Strange little family we've got, don't we?" she asked him with a warm smile.

"Somehow, it works." Clint bumped shoulders with her playfully. "Think we got enough of a breather?" When Natasha nodded, he stood and held a hand out to help her up. "All right. Let's go see what those hot shots have planned for us. I'm sure there's plenty more Chitauri out there waiting for us. Not what I had in mind when you wanted us to come up and visit Asgard, but hey. Seeing other dimensions is still kind of wild."

That made Natasha laugh, which she thought perhaps was his ultimate goal. "Never thought it would be part of the job description, hm?"

"I'm just the guy with the bow."

"That's only one of your many talents."

Now it was Clint's turn to laugh, and he made a sweeping bow back in the general direction they had come from. "Maybe, but directions are yours. I'll need you to lead me back."

No longer feeling as though the strategic planning meeting would be so dreadful, they headed back toward the War Room, an invisible Loki in their wake.

***

Spells laced into the portal locations on the asteroid were meant to trigger alarms on Asgard if new ones were opened or Chitauri arrived to repair the damaged generators. They didn't go off simultaneously, at least, but two of the larger planets soon had Chitauri arriving. The alarms were triggered, sending Asgardian warriors into a frenzy of action. Palace guards and lesser jarls were all tapped to be the army selected to drive back the Chitauri from invading. Once again, there was talk of forcibly conscripting karls to fight back the alien intruders. As squads of warriors and palace guards were sent directly to the Chitauri-controlled planets via Heimdall's portals in the Observatory, karls began to protest in earnest. Farmers broke tools, ovens were left to cool, livestock were turned loose.

Odin issued decrees at the behest of his economic advisors, the greater jarls Einarr, Hrodvaldr and Sigsteinn. Karl movements and access to potential weapons were strictly limited, and all of Asgard was placed on lockdown. "We are at war with a race that glorifies death. They will not hesitate to slaughter every once of our people," he announced to the populace at large. "So we will slaughter them first and keep ours safe."

"Oh, like that's going to go well," Tony grumbled when he heard the pronouncement. They were all in Thor's quarters, an invisible Loki working to enhance their weapons before facing the Chitauri in combat on the two planets. He had tried to do the same to the swords and shields of the palace guard, but too many weapons from the armory had already been removed.

Clint knew it was going to be a bloodbath, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Tony continued despite Thor's thunderous look. "Why ask _economic_ advisors? If they were really good at the economy, they'd be in business for themselves and generating something more than interest off of trust fund money."

Thor's glower deepened. "Hold, Stark. That is my father you speak ill of."

"If you heard that from anyone else, do you think it would keep the population from rioting?" he asked in reply. He didn't even bother to look up from the sensor array that he was working on with Bruce and Jane. "Do you really think they'll lay down ancestral swords and give them up to the palace when the Chitauri could materialize any moment?"

"They don't know the Chitauri can do that," Bruce reminded him in mild tones.

Jane poked Tony with a pencil and sharply shook her head. "Too many turns on that one. It's going to crack in the field. Trust me, transporting these things are a pain in the ass, you need to keep it a little looser. We don't have replacements here to burn through."

He sighed and loosened the sensor a few turns. "Look. I know he's your father. I know you're loyal to a fault. But your people are going to die if the Chitauri land here."

Though he looked away, Thor's tightening jaw was proof positive enough that he heard and understood what Tony was trying to say. Clint hadn't wanted to get in the middle of anything, but no good could come of upsetting their group before joining the fight against the Chitauri. "Think of it like this: We're obeying the spirit of the decree, if not the letter. Kind of like how you're keeping silent about Loki helping us. If you were following the letter of the law, he'd be dead right now and not sending us alarms."

Turning back toward Clint, Thor nodded slowly. "But in this, I am still a traitor to my father's wishes, even if I believe it to be for the good of Asgard."

"We'll be offworld real soon," Clint offered. "And you know, he'd have to catch us at it."

That didn't help Thor's mood any. "I dislike my part in this. It is a callow trick I play on my father, and he is a good man. He does not deserve a disloyal son."

"This isn't a question of _deserve,"_ Clint replied with a shake of his head, which covered Loki's snort of derision. Clint doubted that Thor was making a backhanded comment at Loki, he simply wasn't that type. Looking down at the arrow in his hands, he put down the whetstone he had been using to file down the edge of one arrowhead. It was odd that the quiver seemed so full, but he hadn't remarked upon it. He thought perhaps Fandral or Volstagg supplied him with some from the Asgard armory. They seemed the type to help a fellow out. "You're fighting for Asgard, just as you've always done. For Odin and Frigga, for the jarls and karls and even the livestock on this world. Because you've seen what the Chitauri will do if they win, and that's the last thing you want to happen to your homeland."

"You speak words of wisdom," he replied with a heavy nod. "But it still pains me."

"Better to ask forgiveness than seek permission," Tony quipped, handing off the sensor array to Jane with a smile. "That you can trust me on. When it works, he'll be more likely to forgive you a lie here and there. Are we all set, Horns?"

Loki's derisive snort was louder this time. "If I do not put shielding spells upon your metallic shell, then yes, we are indeed finished."

"How much longer?" Natasha asked, voice calm. If she was nervous at all, she didn't appear to be. She was in her nanomesh armor, hair braided and coiled in Asgardian style out of her face, a few pins here and there. Clint had no doubt that they would be lethal or tipped with poison of some kind. That was a very Natasha kind of move. She had her usual throwing knives strapped to her arms, her Glocks in thigh holsters as well as several extra magazines, her wristlets and an ornate scabbard at her side holding onto the twin swords she had gotten from Loki. Sif sat beside her, limbs appearing relaxed, though her fingers never strayed far from her sword. Her shield lay at her feet, and her armor was polished to a mirrored shine.

All of the fighters in the room wore Loki's amulets, though it would only protect them from physical harm. With the spells protecting their gear from getting damaged or nicked, it would help them combat more of the Chitauri. That was the theory, anyway.

A flash of light greeted her words, and then Fandral's sword floated in the air toward him. "The rest of you may begin, if you wish. Another hour, perhaps. There are more pieces to ward on the armor, especially if I am to ensure they do not interfere with the sensors or its function."

Thor nodded. "So be it. We attack on two fronts. We can split our forces into Asgardian on one and Midgardian on the other—"

"Blend them," Natasha suggested, interrupting him.

"We've got more ranged fighters," Clint remarked, holding up his bow. "You're all melee fighters like the guards that were sent on ahead. If we mix it up a bit, we could open up a few holes to get more melee fighters in."

Pondering that for a moment, Thor nodded again. "Very well, that can be done. Clint and Natasha, you may join me and Fandral on Lutain." He turned toward Sif and Volstagg. "Please, wait for the armor to be completely refashioned. Then join Bruce, Tony and Steve on Danheil."

"And me?" came Loki's disembodied voice. It was rather creepy to hear.

"Jane remains here to coordinate information. You can protect her."

"It would be best if I did not tarry on Asgard for too long," Loki said dryly.

"Then determine where best you were needed," Thor replied, a thread of exasperation in his tone.

Clint figured in an hour or so, he'd join Natasha, whether he was needed there or not.

In a flurry of motion, the Lutain group arrived via the Bifrost. Heimdall had deposited them in the thick of the action, Chitauri viciously attacking Asgardians however they could. Asgardian military forces tended to have limited use for ranged weapons or overhead attacks, as that wasn't their usual battle style. Clint immediately lost himself in the draw and pull of his bow, reacting instantly to incoming chariots or overhand attacks from Chitauri foot soldiers. It was a mindless exercise if he pushed aside the thought that Chitauri were living, breathing, moving creatures and not just a simulation for practice. Dimly he recalled the Battle of New York, the gray skin and sharp teeth behind lips drawn back in a snarl. He remembered the way the metallic armor seemed almost woven into the creatures, the way some of them had been physically bonded to the chariots or chained into place. This was all they knew, all they hoped to do. They didn't hope or want more out of life.

The battle here was just as intense as it was in New York. There was the constant reach behind him for an arrow, sometimes an explosive or net one, sometimes just a straight metal edge to pierce through armor or soft flesh that was exposed. Natasha swung her swords once she was out of ammunition, though it seemed to take longer than usual.

Come to think of it, his quiver should have been empty by now, yet it was as full as ever, as if any missed arrows simply returned to it or a replacement immediately appeared. That was beyond Fandral's or Volstagg's ability. Though Clint hadn't wanted Loki touching his bow, perhaps the trickster had helped him anyway.

Thor with Mjolnir decimated as many Chitauri as he could, concussive blasts of force knocking many of them down around him in concentric circles. Rushing forward to what had to be a Chitauri officer, Thur swung Mjolnir and knocked the fanciful headdress off of its head. The warrior bellowed, spittle flying, and tried to swing its staff at Thor. Mjolnir connected with the energy staff, triggering a blast that destroyed the energy staff. Pieces of it impaled not only the supposed general, but three Chitauri behind him. A steady crackle of energy that was discharged from the staff also arced away from them, making two Chitauri foot soldiers on either side gyrate with large, frightened eyes as they were electrocuted.

The problem was, no other Chitauri collapsed with that move.

"The creature was not the anchor for the link!" Thor shouted at his compatriots. "Continue searching for it!"

"Jane? You copy that?" Clint called out, hoping that his earpiece was still connected through space and portals.

"Got it," he heard through the comm unit. "I'm scanning the area for a likely source and comparing it to the other planet."

"Steve and company over there yet?"

"Just sent through, I think," Jane replied, sounding a bit distracted. "Lots of different readings to coordinate here. I'm gonna have one hell of a paper to write on this if SHIELD doesn't confiscate my data again."

Clint wanted to laugh as he let an explosive arrow fly. "Let's live through this first. Tell us whenever something looks like the host for the neural link."

"Will do."

Before long, Loki appeared, fully visible and in his usual braided leather and gold armor. He carried a glaive and disdainful expression on his face, but fell into the fighting as if it was second nature. Clint had to remember that he _had_ been trained to fight before, and used to fight alongside Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three. Though he often resorted to trickery and magic, Loki was fully capable of physical violence.

Natasha didn't react to his presence in any visible way, though it was obvious he circled her on the battlefield and helped watch her back. Clint wanted to be annoyed by this, but if Loki had her six, then he didn't have to. Also, he was close enough in Natasha's proximity that Loki was also guarding him as well.

To Clint's horror, the world seemed to shimmer around them. "The fuck?" he called out, letting another exploding arrow fly. "Don't tell me those flying monsters are coming through again! It was a bitch to down that thing."

Loki impaled a Chitauri foot soldier with the glaive and then spun around to look in the direction Clint was staring at. His mouth actually fell open, which didn't help ease Clint's mind at all. "No. It's a massive portal being opened."

Massive was rather an understatement. It was larger than the one that had appeared over New York City, easily ten times larger than the portal that they had opened to this planet from the asteroid not too long ago. On the other side of the portal was another planet full of fighting Chitauri, and Clint could see Tony fly past, blasting foot soldiers out of the way.

The worst part of it was, Chitauri foot soldiers were now moving between Lutain and Danheil, the battle fronts merging into one massive attack.

"I think I found the link," Steve said, the sound of battle carrying over the comm frequency. "I also see someone that might be a caster. Hang on a sec."

Unable to see Steve from his current vantage point, Clint could imagine him slinging his shield at foot soldiers or the potential caster. Since he began training with Clint and Natasha, his fighting style had incorporated a lot more acrobatic and physical moves than it used to. He could hear grunts and the sound of fists hitting flesh before there was a final grunt. "The portal's still wide open, so it must be anchored."

"I can try blasting the link location," Tony said, and Clint could see Tony flying in a different direction through the portal.

Bringing his attention back to his current horde of Chitauri, Clint tuned out the sounds of fighting and background chatter as Steve directed the Hulk and Volstagg as well as one or two of the Asgardian commanders. Neither he nor Natasha had tried to direct the Asgardians; Thor did that readily enough, and it was only by his command that Loki wasn't immediately cut down the moment he materialized.

"It's not going down!" Tony shouted, and Clint winced. He suppressed the urge to rip the earpiece out, knowing he would need to hear what came next. "There's shielding of some kind, and the blasts can't get past the frequency."

"Let me see what I can do," Jane reported via the comm unit.

"Try boom," Hulk said, moments before there was the sound of an explosion.

Clint blinked and was almost gutted by a foot soldier for his hesitation. Chaos continued to erupt all around them, Chitauri not even responding when comrades were killed or when they mortally wounded Asgardian warriors. It was brutal, far more than he would have expected given the prior battle and after New York; the scope of this was something he previously had only seen in medieval movies. Or Lord of the Rings, which Tony still would make quips about.

Speaking of which...

"That would be a big nope," Tony called over the comm link. "Thanks for trying, though."

"We're taking massive casualties on both sides," Clint said as he kicked a foot soldier away from him. He shot him in the chest and then rapid-fired the sharp arrows at a row of incoming foot soldiers. "How can we shut down that link?"

"I'm working on it," Jane called over the comm. "I have the data from that blast. It's some kind of dynamic shielding, so it can withstand a direct attack or explosion outside of its housing." Clint could almost hear the worry in her pause. "Disrupting this link killed the Chitauri before, didn't it? Isn't this something like genocide?"

"They have more goons where these came from," Clint said, letting an explosive arrow fly toward a chariot overhead.

"I understand your hesitation," Natasha said as she decapitated a foot soldier with her sword. "This isn't genocide, Jane. It's protecting Asgard and all of those people who can't fight for themselves. They're innocent. We can't let the Chitauri past us."

Jane audibly gulped. "Okay. Okay. I... I think I have an idea."

Her end of the comm shut off and was silent for almost ten minutes. It seemed to pass in the blink of an eye; adrenaline tended to do that. He was too busy knocking chariots out of the sky and stabbing some with arrows if they got too close. Clint was aware of Asgardian warriors giving as good as they got, though a number of them were still dying because of new chariots flying in and foot soldiers falling into the field from Leviathans overhead. "You know, Tash," Clint called out at one point when he caught his breath, "I think I prefer espionage."

"Me, too," she replied with a laugh, spinning around and slicing the arm off a foot soldier. She was covered in their blood and had several slices in her nanomesh armor that the amulet's spells must not have been able to ward off. The skin in those exposed areas were too covered in blood and grime to be able to see if any damage was present. Clint hoped that her healing ability or the amulet's spells kicked in. If she died...

Nope. Not going to go there. That simply wouldn't happen.

"Okay. I think I got it," Jane called out over the comm, sounding breathless. "And I was able to cobble together a bomb that should help. I've got the coordinates and the algorthythm in place, and Heimdall can get a small bridge through the shielding just in case it doesn't work."

"Sounds good," Tony replied. Clint could hear the rakish grin he no doubt had. "We're all clear of that neural link housing, so whenever you're ready, you're good to go."

"Five... Four... Three... Two... One."

Clint heard nothing for a second, and wondered if this plan failed, too. But it was a tiny Bifrost that she was using, pinpointing a bridge inside the neural link housing as its force field was deactivated with her algorhythm. It probably didn't take very long to shove a bomb into place as the shielding was disrupted.

Another two seconds, and then Clint could distinctly hear a muffled explosion coming from the other side of the portal. The bomb had detonated as the shielding slammed back into place, limiting the fallout of the bomb sent in. The Chitauri seemed to all freeze at once, then fell in droves where they stood. The chariots careened into each other or into the ground, and Leviathans soaring overhead seemed to be in a frenzy of uncontrolled activity that reminded Clint of creatures being electrocuted.

Out of curiosity, Clint bent down to examine one of the fallen Chitauri nearby. He didn't know if they had carotid arteries in the same place, but removing bits of their armor allowed him to see movement in the chest. "Hey, Jane. It worked. They're still alive, just unconscious." And possibly with their brains fried, but he wouldn't say such a thing aloud to her. Jane had been horrified by possible genocide and the ferocity of fighting, after all.

Thor chortled and raised his hammer high in the air. Lightning crackled, and the Asgardian warriors cheered. "We have defeated the enemy!"

Loki approached him, shaking his head and looking almost frightened. "Thor. It's not over." He pointed off in the distance, where the panicking Leviathans were being corralled by drivers that were now visible against the stark sky.

A sky that didn't look like that of Lutain any longer.

Clint realized he was looking at another massive portal, one that eclipsed the one that had linked Danheil to Lutain. Even worse, on the other side of it was Asgard.

"Jane... Tell Heimdall you've got incoming," Clint murmured, reaching behind him for a detonating arrow. He could possibly hit the last Leviathan, but some were already crossing the threshold of the portal. "Six Leviathans from Lutain, at least."

"Shit. Looks like eleven from Danheil," Tony reported.

"Smash flying worm," Hulk roared, leaping forward from where he had been standing.

"The big guy's got a point," Steve said, beginning to break out into a run. Volstagg and three Asgardian generals were hot on his heels.

Fandral hooted and lifted his sword, a rakish grin splitting his weary face. "For Asgard!"

All of the Asgardian warriors lifted their swords and rallied to his cry. Sif picked up her shield from where she had thrown it, Steve Rogers style, before the Chitauri had fallen. She checked on the generals around her, then nodded sharply. "Forward, men. Defend our homes and people!"

Thor was spinning Mjolnir, and threw himself forward, toward the portal leading to Asgard with a determined look on his face.

Clint glanced at Natasha. "Ready?"

She squared her shoulders and gave him a ghost of a smile. "No, but it's time to go anyway."

Loki looked between the two of them and miles to run until they reached the portal. "I'll make a short cut for you."

What was one more portal on this blasted, ruined planet, after all?

Back to Asgard, once more into the breach.

***  
***center>


	5. For Asgard

The collapsed Chitauri on Lutain and Danheil were left behind, as well as the dead Asgardian warriors. Everyone able to run and fight had followed the Leviathans with their riders, who seemed to be a mix of Chitauri generals and other figures. "Who are those guys?!" Tony called out into the comms. "Anybody have any idea?"

Loki looked as closely as he could, given how quickly the Leviathans swooped and dove between the towers of Asgard. He had to use a vision spell in order to see, and familiar faces met his gaze. He had to push aside the fear that threatened to rise; this was _war_ now, and he was not in a helpless position any longer. "Those are Thanos' generals. They lead his army to destroy Asgard in a bid to please Hel."

"Well, then," Clint said, holding his bow tightly. "Let's give 'em all hell."

Chitauri that hadn't fallen were spilling through the portals as well. "We need to take down the other neural network," Natasha said over the comms, voice clipped and terse.

"I'm on it," Steve's voice rang out confidently. "Hey, Sif, this way. I think I see another one of those things... Stand by, Jane."

"Got it. Heimdall's got his eye on you two."

"We'll need to spread out, try to minimize the casualties toward the people," Loki called out, ignoring Volstagg's incredulous stare. Thor had approached as he spoke, and grinned at him. It took Loki a moment to realize that Thor likely thought he could be brought back into the fold somehow, that he could call Loki "brother" again.

Honestly, Loki wasn't sure if he was willing to take on that mantle, or if he ever would be ready for such a thing. It was so tiring being Thor's brother, and even with Frigga half the time Loki felt as though he could no longer measure up to expectations.

But he could fight Thanos and his generals. He could stem the tide of death on Asgard, keep it safe just this once. Natasha was right; this was his home, for better or for worse, and no one else should ever be able to destroy it if he couldn't.

"We can direct them to the main thoroughfares and gardens," Thor said, pointing with Mjolnir in hand. "Keep them away from the artisan and work districts."

"Why is the alarm not sounding?" Fandral asked with a frown. "There should be an alarm to evacuate to safer locations..."

"Is there any point?" Loki asked sharply. "The Chitauri are everywhere. There are no safe places on Asgard. They've been killing Healers as well as jarls and karls." His lips curled in derision when Fandral and Volstagg looked shocked that he knew of the deaths. Thor merely looked thoughtful. "It's best that they all stay inside and keep off the streets. Less panic and civilian casualties that way."

"Do you even care about the civilians?" Volstagg asked acidly.

"I want the Chitauri dead," Loki hissed. "I want Thanos stopped. You don't need more than that to secure my aid."

"Hold," Thor said quietly, reaching out to touch Volstagg's arm. "Now is not the time to question him. We need those foul creatures stopped."

"This is certainly the time to question it. He could be giving us aid merely to seize the throne!"

"I offer you aid despite the price of my life!" Loki roared. His anger was palpable, though Volstagg held his ground. Fandral actually seemed concerned that Loki would strike him, and subtly shifted position to stand between them. "If you doubt me, shed that spelled armor. Drop those enchanted weapons." Loki bared his teeth, hands fisted at his sides. "I have done you no wrongs this day, Volstagg. I do honor my bargains!" He raised one fist in a threatening manner, making all the Asgardians bristle and ready themselves. "When this is done, there will be a reckoning, Volstagg. I challenge you to holmgang."

"Recant, brother—" Thor began anxiously.

"No, I will _not,"_ Loki said, lips thinned in anger just as Volstagg sneered "You will not show, _seidmadr."_

"You harm our cause!" Fandral hissed at Volstagg. "Loki has come to our aid in this, whatever his reasons, and the Chitauri continue to invade our home!" He shook Volstagg's arm to gain his attention. "Sheathe your doubts until there is reason to air them."

An explosion in the distance cut off Volstagg's reply. "That was in the artisan district," Thor said, voice grave. He looked around; most of the Asgardians and the Avengers had already fanned out to fight the Chitauri while Steve tried to find the other neural network hub. "Come, there is still much to do." He leveled a stern look at Volstagg. "We _need_ Loki, and he does not intend us harm."

 _"Now,"_ Volstagg intoned, glaring at him.

Loki sneered at Volstagg and then turned on his heel to head to the artisan district. He could hear footsteps behind him, but wouldn't turn to see who it was. Halfway there, he realized that he had separated himself from Natasha and Clint, and cursed inwardly. No going back, however.

Just as he reached the artisan district, Loki heard an explosion off in the distance. It sounded as though it came from the portals far behind them, not from Asgard. He cast several concussive spells in succession, sending Chitauri drones flying. Grasping one of their energy staves, he spun it around in a wide arc, catching another foot soldier in the face. He fell back, knocking another down. Dark hair flying into his face, Loki grit his teeth and let go of his rage. He was good enough to fight. He hadn't tried to kill any of these accursed Asgardians that so vilified him. He protected Natasha and her favored companions. He had created enchanted items to help them all, at great cost to his disguise. He continued to fight, despite the price on his head.

Loki was worthy of more than disdain and mockery, damn their eyes. Never mind he had difficulty believing it himself most of the time, that he destroyed every chance at happiness he had ever held. He was not broken, would not yield.

Later, perhaps, but not now. Now he was in his element, the chaos of battle appealing to the deep well of emptiness inside him. He could grunt and shout and curse all of Creation, the Roots and Branches and Leaves of Yggdrasil, could drive his hatred into his spells and burn his enemies on the spot. Here, it was allowed, encouraged, praised. Here, he could act without second guessing himself, without feeling judged. Chitauri fell beneath his hand or his spells, and he racked up a body count every bit as impressive as Fandral's or Volstagg's. Perhaps not Thor's, but Loki was still a force to be reckoned with. He was still a warrior, still a man.

Just after one of his massive fireball spells, the Chitauri seemed to freeze in place, rooted to the spot. Then as one, they fell to the ground, insensate.

"It seems as though our friend the good Captain achieved his mission objective," one of the Asgardian commanders said, a weary grin on his face. "Asgard is saved!"

Loki rather doubted that, and looked around. It wasn't over. It wouldn't be this easy. Thanos would not give up in courting Hel this quickly.

A cry went up in the distance, and Loki looked to the sky. He could see a crazed Leviathan suddenly straighten out. It was still being controlled.

"Some generals remain!" Loki boomed, pointing at the sky with his stolen staff. "The generals are still on the battlefield, our mission is not complete."

The weary Asgardians turned and headed toward the Leviathans.

***

Though the Chitauri collapsed soon after Steve called out a warning over the comms, some of the overhead fliers continued to fire. "We're dealing with a _third_ group of Chitauri?" Clint asked incredulously.

One of the Asgardian officers nearby pulled out a collapsible spyglass and looked at the remaining Leviathans and chariots that weren't careening into the ground or random buildings. "Nay," he said after a moment. "Chitauri are not blue."

It was too far away, even for Clint's eyesight, and the Asgardian handed over the golden spyglass at his request. Natasha merely raised an eyebrow in query when he returned the spyglass to the officer. "Well?" she prompted when he remained silent.

"Don't know what it is, but it's not Chitauri."

"So helpful," she snarked, blowing out a breath.

"The thing seems to be circling," the Asgardian officer said. He sounded rather uncertain.

"Could be looking for a place to land," Clint offered.

"Then why don't we send it an invitation?" Natasha asked. Her ferocious grin seemed to disconcert the Asgardian officer.

Clint dialed up a particularly nasty explosive arrow from his quiver. "One invitation, coming up," he announced.

The explosion rocked the Leviathan, and several creatures seemed to fall from its back as it started plummeting out of the sky. Not the blue-skinned one, however. As it approached in its death throes, the Leviathan bellowed in a loud, painful voice. "We're almost done on the ground, too," Clint called out.

Natasha had taken the spyglass from the Asgardian and frowned at what she saw. "It's a different species from the Chitauri and the uniform isn't the same. I think it's an officer."

"Then we need to target the officers and cut them down," the Asgardian declared grandly. "If there is no one to lead them, the remaining Chitauri will fall."

It was a good plan, in any case.

One general somersaulted down from her Leviathan, two staves in hand. She had blue skin, with cybernetic joints and one completely cybernetic arm. Her eyes took in the melee around her for a split second before diving in and starting to beat on seasoned Asgardian warriors with little difficulty. Natasha took one look at her style, lips thinning. "I can disable a cybernetic arm," she said in flat tones over the comm. "I've got her," she announced, as if she had spare ammunition for her pistols. But then, she was just as facile with her knives and the twin swords. She hadn't had any reason to use her Widow's Bites, thermal charges or electrocution discs until now. Those would come in handy against this general.

"I've got your six," Clint replied, falling in behind her.

Natasha snorted, the corner of her lips quirking into something almost like a smile. "As if you were going to let anyone else do it."

"Hey, we've trained together long enough and often enough I know what kind of backup you need." He gave her a smile and nodded toward his quiver. "And I seem to have gotten infinite ammo, so no worries on my account." As if to punctuate his statement, he retrieved an arrow, nocked it and fired it within two seconds, skewering a Chitauri general that probably wasn't connected to either neural net. The general snarled and bared his sharp teeth, but the blue-skinned woman ignored him as she stalked forward.

Natasha gave her twin swords a shake as she rolled her wrists. "In that case, I think we're ready to party."

***

Steve was startled by the explosion that rocked the ground when the second neural net was destroyed. He stumbled, and saw that Sif hadn't. She had braced herself against a possible impact, feet wide apart for balance with her knees bent. It reminded Steve of standing on a turbulent subway car. Chitauri fell this time, so Steve tapped his earpiece back into the "on" setting. "Hey, Jane. Got it. What do you see on your end?"

"There aren't any other signals that look like a neural net," she offered, "though the ones you found so far didn't give off readings like one. I still see a lot of things moving in the air and on the ground."

"Yeah, we're gonna have to take 'em out," Steve replied with a sigh.

Not having an earpiece, Sif merely shot Steve a questioning look. He pointed toward the Leviathans remaining in the air and then the staggering grounds-level foes that remained. She shot him a grim smile, then adjusted her grip in her sword before heading towards a few of the Chitauri that remained on the ground.

Steve followed, and it was easy to fall into a steady rhythm of fighting with Sif. Neither needed to really speak, and their styles seemed to dovetail nicely. The Chitauri fighters were vicious, but they didn't have the sheer numbers they used to. Without the foot soldiers, the Chitauri officers had to fight themselves. Their style was less fluid or coordinated, and Steve found them easy to knock down with his shield, punch or kick. Sif had offered him sword training earlier, and he was starting to regret turning her down. "There's something to sword fighting, huh?" he asked her, out of breath during a lull.

She merely grinned at him, though she was just as battle weary. "More elegant than your projectile weaponry," she replied.

"And can't run out of ammo," Steve agreed. "Not something I'm used to, though."

Sif grasped a sword from one of the fallen Asgardians nearby and handed it to him with a grim expression. "No need to delay training, then. You begin now, and the lessons will be that much more memorable."

Shaking his head ruefully, Steve adjusted his grip on the hilt. "No kidding. Let's do this, then."

***

Feeling out of sorts and close to death, Loki moved through the battlefield. Most of the Chitauri were immobilized, at least. He stopped short at the sight of one of Thanos' trusted generals decapitating a palace guard. He was tall, with dark skin and startlingly light eyes. His armor was metallic, resembling the anti-magic metal that had caused Loki so much grief. Those light eyes turned and he stopped short at the sight of Loki.

"Korath," he said, stretching his lips in a mockery of a gracious smile. "Not dead yet. Pity."

"The little liar," Korath intoned, lip curling in distaste. His eyes took in the braided leather, gold and runic armor. "So you live after all. You have displeased our master, and you know the penalty for failure."

"One you should have paid."

"Oh, I haven't displeased our master." He grinned, teeth bright white against the dark of his skin, eyes crinkling at the corners. "I've found quite the treasure for his trove."

_The Infinity Gems._

Panic flared in Loki's chest, and he wanted to destroy Korath with his bare hands. Magic wouldn't touch him, not with that armor, not with those weapons. Spelled weapons wouldn't do any harm to him either.

"Oh, Horns, don't tell me you weren't going to share playmates," Tony called out, flying into place nearby. Loki was actually grateful to the braying human, but could never tell the mortal such a thing.

Even worse, the Hulk and Thor were close on his heels.

"Then by all means, do take care of this odious creature. Magic will not work on his weapons or armor," he added, as if it was a terrible bother.

Loki could almost imagine the wheels turning in his mind even as Tony lifted a palm and sent a repulsor blast toward Korath. The general flew backward nearly a hundred yards, his eyes widening comically as he was thrown. "Well." Even Tony sounded nonplused. "This ought to be interesting playtime."

Tony turned in the general direction of the Hulk. "Hey, Big Guy, this one's got anti-magic stuff on. You'd almost think he doesn't like Loki."

"Not nice," the Hulk growled, leaping into the fray. He swatted away a Chitauri officer, who landed half on a broken wall, its spine audibly snapping. It emitted a baleful cry, drawing the attention of nearby stragglers.

Thor hefted Mjolnir threateningly when Korath struggled to get to his feet. "Spells are ineffective against this foe. Let us defeat him," he told Loki. "There are others still to vanquish."

Loki nodded and took the out he was given. "There are other generals for Thanos, and the creature himself might be here to see his handiwork."

"We got this," Tony said, blasting a Chitauri soldier looking to climb onto the Hulk's back. The Hulk grunted his acknowledgement, then brought his fist down over the soldier's chest. In the background were other explosions and the sound of laser blasts. "Head on that way. Sounds like a general at work."

As much as Loki hated taking direction from others, the recommendation was sound. "He fights dirty," he told Tony, nodding in Korath's direction. "He claims an honorable nature, but he will take advantage of you."

Tony laughed as Mjolnir flew from Thor's hand and struck Korath in the solar plexus. The armor held, but Korath was once again knocked down. "I think we've got a few tricks up our sleeve."

Loki nodded and took off for the armory.

***

Natasha circled the blue-skinned woman with cybernetic implants. "Who are you?" she asked, not sure she would even get an answer. Knowing that Clint had her six meant that she could focus entirely on the woman, who had to keep her awareness split between Natasha, Clint, the environment around her and any additional potential opponents. Even so, Natasha didn't think she would have it so easy. Thanos wouldn't have weaklings as generals.

"You may refer to me as Nebula," the woman replied. "You are not of this world. Who are you?"

"Natasha Romanoff. I'm from Earth."

"That backwater?"

"It's home," Natasha answered without inflection. "What about you?"

Nebula fell into a fighter's crouch. "I come from everywhere and nowhere." At Natasha's questioning look, she laughed. It was a cruel, mocking sound. "Thanos is my grandfather," Nebula declared, arrogance in her tone. "We'll have all the Infinity Gems, and the universe will be ours to reshape."

It seemed to be a pretty standard Evil Overlord kind of plan, but Loki's description of Thanos had included a galaxy-sized ego. It seemed to be a crucial component of Thanos' persona, and something he had passed down to his granddaughter.

"And he courts the Lady Hel," Natasha replied. "I assume he would reshape things so that Hel is by his side."

Nebula snorted and bared her teeth. "Death will serve us."

Knowing Hel, that wasn't very likely at all, even in a reshaped universe. Natasha fell into a stance that mirrored Nebula's, twin swords in her hands. "Hel won't appreciate that," she told Nebula quietly. "She can't be owned or forced to do someone else's bidding."

"All will serve Thanos!" Nebula cried, surging forward with her staves.

Natasha parried the first attack with her left sword, swinging the right one around toward Nebula's torso. The second staff caught the blade and deflected it. Nebula's next strike was parried as well, but the shock of it reverberated up Natasha's blade and into her arm. The first priority would have to be disabling that cybernetic arm. Feinting toward the right, Natasha slid both swords into that hand and tossed one of her electroshock discs toward Nebula's cybernetic arm. The mercenary didn't realize what it was at first, and continued to push forward with her staves. Natasha was forced to fall to one knee when one staff struck her shoulder, but she swallowed the pain and lunged forward with the swords into the open space.

Scoring a direct hit to Nebula's torso as the disc took effect, Natasha watched as Nebula skittered back a few steps. It wasn't much, but it was something Natasha could work with. She spun one sword in a circle as she lunged forward with the other. Nebula was a hardened mercenary, however, and didn't let a little pain distract her. The cybernetic arm worked awkwardly at best now, but Nebula still knocked the spinning sword out of Natasha's hand with her staff. Natasha had to duck to avoid a strike to the head. She twisted and pushed off the ground as she kicked at Nebula's normal knee viciously. Nebula staggered back a step, allowing Natasha a little room to slap an electroshock disc onto the cybernetic parts of the other knee and lower leg. Nebula groaned in pain as her body spasmed.

Somewhere beyond the two of them, Clint had Natasha's six. She normally wouldn't ignore her surroundings, but could do so now, focusing entirely on Nebula. Coming in close didn't faze the mercenary in the slightest. She tossed aside her staff and snarled at Natasha. "You will still fall," Nebula told her. "Your death will be a grand prize."

"Maybe, but not for you," Natasha said sweetly as she grappled Nebula and flipped her over. Natasha completed her tumble even after Nebula hit the ground. "Hel doesn't want me yet. She'd rather I give her more souls first."

"But you don't serve Thanos," Nebula gasped, flipping up to her feet.

"I serve _myself,"_ Natasha replied, teeth bared.

The metal arm _hurt_ when it slammed into her ribs, but Natasha knew how to swallow down pain and keep going. The healing would kick in sooner or later, so she could wait on checking her wounds. Clint hated that, and thought it was extraordinarily reckless of her. But her rib wasn't cracked, and there were more important things to worry about. Her electroshock discs indeed had short circuited the metallic limbs, but they were still somewhat functional. Nebula didn't seem to care that they were glitchy and didn't always follow her commands. She simply twisted her torso and swung the arm around as a counterweight, as if it was a Morningstar attached to her shoulder. How annoying.

Natasha caught Nebula's arm in her hands and attempted to swing the mercenary around in a wide circle. She stumbled, but didn't fall. Natasha pulled on the arm, but there was no yanking it out of its socket. That did force Nebula to have to twist away from Natasha, though she yanked a short dagger out of her waistband and buried it in Natasha's side. Teeth grit, Natasha moved past the pain to drive her knee into Nebula's chest. Then into her face a few times. Then for good measure, Natasha drove both of her Widow's bites into her head. The charges dispersed into the base of her skull, triggering a seizurelike reaction in Nebula. Eyes rolling up into the back of her head, Nebula collapsed to the ground.

"Holy crap," Clint said, letting loose an exploding arrow into the distance. "There's more of these guys coming in." He tapped his comm to relay that message for Jane. "Whatever else these generals were for, it wasn't maintaining a neural net."

Catching her breath, Natasha nodded and dropped to the ground beside Nebula. She cut bits of Nebula's clothing into strips to bind her wrists and ankles. "This will have to do until we find something better."

"We're only going to piss her off if she breaks free."

Natasha took out one of her own knives that Maeginbiorn had made for her. "Well, let's put her at a disadvantage, then, shall we?" She started prying at the plates and sensors in the arm, taking it apart systematically. Clint had to look away when she started prying at the cybernetic parts on Nebula's face and skull.

It was dirty and not pretty, but someone had to do it.

***

The ground shook violently as the Hulk crashed into it from nearly a hundred feet above. "Tell Bruce to be careful!" Jane cried into Tony's earpiece. "That seismic shock is screwing up my readings. Oh, and there's a school nearby."

"Good to see your priorities never change," Tony teased, flying in over the Hulk's position.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," Jane huffed. "And besides, I'm not doing the fighting. I get to listen and do the math."

"And advance the field of theoretical physics by at least a decade or two." Tony peered through the rubble beneath the Hulk. It was difficult to see through the dust cloud and debris. "JARVIS, any life signs on Korath?"

"Affirmative, sir. He is attempting to use the dust as cover to evade your forces."

"Oh, we can't have that..." Tony began, holding out his hands. Using the repulsor blasts on a lower setting, he cleared the dust clouds from around the Hulk's feet. "Hey, Big Guy, there's a nasty little critter between your toes somewhere."

Thor in the meantime was using Mjolnir to strike down the remaining Chitauri officers or send them flying through the air. When they landed badly, they didn't get back up.

"Where is Thanos, foul creature?" Thor demanded as Hulk reached down to pick up Korath.

Though Korath gulped for air, his entire demeanor was one of defiance. "My lord Thanos will defeat you all and offer your souls to Lady Death."

Unimpressed, the Hulk began to shake Korath violently. He didn't bang him into the ground; the Hulk was aware of the situation enough to know that Korath likely wouldn't survive such treatment. "Answer!" the Hulk roared in Korath's face.

But the general merely grinned maniacally, blood from his split lips smearing over his teeth. "I will answer you this, mortal. You will die, and you will be given to Lady Death." He laughed and looked at Thor's discomfited expression. "Even you do not last forever, Asgardian. Death comes for you, too."

"You first," the Hulk spat, raising his fist. It was clear he intended to smash Korath into the ground, which would break every bone in his body.

"Nay, hold fast!" Thor boomed, holding out his hand. When the Hulk paused, Thor narrowed his eyes at Korath. "I have a better idea. Let us find my lady mother. She can work her spells, and Korath will tell us all we wish to know."

Korath's eyes widened almost comically. "That is not honorable!"

Thor stalked forward and lifted Korath's chin with Mjolnir in a threatening manner. "You have no honor. You and your treacherous men have slaughtered innocents, butchered our people, tricked others into aiding your cause. No, you have no honor. Spell work is too good for you, but it will have to do."

Tony let out a low whistle, then flew up into the air. "Glad you're on our side, Thor. Let me go and get your Mom. Maybe in the meantime, Blue Eyes here will feel like talking."

***

Steve was exhausted. There was the burn of muscles being worked to their limits, some shortness of breath, sweat causing his uniform and hair to stick to him. Sif was in the same position, at least, though she laughed like the warrior maiden she was. It was glorious to watch her in action, and Steve knew that his mimicry of her moves was still woefully inadequate. Still, he had already improved his sword technique greatly. She shot him a pleased smile and a nod, which made him feel a great sense of pride. He hadn't trained with a sword for years, but still received her approval.

And if he rather liked the sight of her smile for its own sake, he didn't have to mention it just yet.

Stopping to take a breather, Steve looked around at the devastated section of Asgard. "It's going to take a lot to rebuild."

Sif nodded, her pleased smile slipping into a grim expression. "But at least our people will have the opportunity to do so. If it were up to Thanos, none of us would survive."

Touching her arm in support, Steve gave her a half smile. "Good thing it's not, huh?"

"Aye," she replied, covering his hand with one of hers. She returned his smile as her fingers intertwined with his. "It is."

Now Steve's smile grew a shade embarrassed. He wanted to say something witty, but that had never been his forte around someone he liked. "Say, Sif—"

Her expectant expression darkened suddenly, and she pulled away. "Fire," she declared.

Steve turned around and looked in the direction she was staring at. "Do you know where that is?" he asked, awkwardness forgotten.

"The armory," she told him.

He tightened his grip on his sword and checked his shield on his arm. "Then let's go."

***  
***


	6. Revelations

In the armory, there was a battle raging full tilt between palace guards and a number of Chitauri officers. Fire had spread when a cadet had knocked over a brazier; the cadet hadn't lasted too much longer than that. Chitauri and palace forces had approximately equal numbers, though half of the palace guards fighting were cadets in training. A fair number of them were wounded, though not grievously so. They served as a stark contrast to those fighting who had received enchanted weapons or armor.

There was a tall figure with blue skin, brown hair and blue eyes. He was fighting three Asgardian trainees and holding his own with only a single war hammer. His full battle armor clearly had protected him from most of the sword blows the cadets had landed.

"Ronan," Loki said aloud before he could stop himself.

The blue skinned figure kicked one of the cadets full in the chest, sending him flying. A swing of his hammer – he had called it his universal weapon, Loki remembered—sent another flying away from him. The backswing of the weapon meant its sharp, pointed end impaled the poor cadet in the head. Ronan then changed the arc of his swing so that he could shake off the dead man before turning to look at Loki.

 _"You."_ Ronan circled Loki, eyes narrowing slightly. "You will die this day."

"Many have tried," Loki replied. He flashed Ronan a rakish grin, as if the general didn't instill fear across the galaxy. "Obviously, your forces lack the skill necessary."

To Loki's everlasting surprise, Volstagg and Fandral fell into step to fight along with him. "For Asgard," Fandral reminded Loki.

"For Asgard," Volstagg echoed, giving his axe a shake.

For an impossible moment, Loki felt as if all the damage he had done could be undone. It was years ago, before the festering guilt and anger and jealousy had taken root, before he had destroyed everything he held dear. For a moment, he was young and guileless, he _belonged_ and was a vital part of the team.

Loki led the charge against Ronan, shooting him with an energy blast from the Chitauri staff. It bounced off of his armor, striking the roof of the armory and causing some of the stone to chip off. "Repulsive," he said with a curl of his lip.

As Ronan tried to reply, Loki swung the staff and struck his arm. On his left, Fandral began to close in, sword at the ready. On Loki's right, Volstagg rushed in with his axe swinging. The three of them formed a rough triangle around Ronan while the Asgardians remaining circled them all warily. Some even ran from the armory entirely.

"Wait," Loki murmured to Fandral and Volstagg. "Attack together, on three."

"Three," Volstagg replied, going in with his axe again.

Fandral sighed, but backed him up. Loki thrust the bulbous end of the staff at Ronan, striking him in the stomach. Ronan swung his Warhammer; it struck the Chitauri staff and cleaved it in two. Volstagg's axe hit Ronan's arm and Fandral thrust his sword as if he was about to skewer the general. Neither strike did particular damage, though their weapons didn't break. Loki would have liked a weapon that he could summon the way Thor did with Mjolnir. The best he could do was open a portal _between_ into one of his hideaways on Yggdrasil and retrieve one of his spelled weapons. The runes on the blade of his sword lit up as his portal closed, and that drew Ronan's attention.

"You dare to use Words of Power?" he growled, eyes narrowing as he took in Loki's sword.

Loki laughed. "These are nothing. Syllables, not Words. You know _nothing_ of true magic, of the power it can possess."

And then he attacked in earnest.

Loki swung his sword as he moved forward on one side, while Fandral and Volstagg worked to harry Ronan in earnest. He tuned out his surroundings, and only focused on the edge of his blade meeting Ronan's gauntlet. Ronan twisted his wrist and the decorative bumps turned into full-fledged spikes. Ah, a weapon, then. Loki conjured a short sword for his off hand, a smoky blade made of shadow and madness. He had learned of this kind of blade from Amora's rings of power, the frightening whispers unlocking spells he should never have known inside of his mind. Should the blade dive deep enough into Ronan's flesh, the wound would never seal shut. It would bleed and bleed and bleed, ruby lifeblood spilling to the ground if the blade didn't absorb it.

"No, that's impossible," Ronan cried when he saw the shadow blade. He swung a fist at Volstagg's face, who had to duck and skitter backward to avoid the spikes connecting. Fandral tried to step forward and follow Ronan, sword aimed at his gut. Ronan dropped his hammer to catch Fandral's blade between his hands and wrench it sideways. Fandral kept hold of his sword and twisted his wrist, slicing Ronan's bare palms.

Giving the general a feral grin full of sharp teeth, Loki lunged forward with the shadow blade aimed at Ronan's throat. Some distant part of him should have been horrified by his actions, that he would consign Ronan to a torturous death if no one was able to reverse the damage. Yet... Ronan served Thanos and worked to destroy entire worlds. Eliminating Ronan would save countless other planets and the myriad petty lives that lived on them. One death to save billions or trillions. Was that not balance? Was that not a worthy enough sacrifice?

Perhaps his damned ledger wouldn't kill him after all.

Volstagg swung his axe behind Ronan, catching him behind his knees. While Ronan fell from the impact, it also allowed him to retrieve his hammer. He swung it as he tumbled, a move that reminded Loki of Natasha and her ability to use her own body as a counterweight to her fighting movements. Volstagg couldn't get out of the way in time, and the hammer crashed into his left knee with a sickening crunch. The warrior went down screaming, and that alerted Fandral to the danger, allowing him to skip backward.

Working counter to his initial instinct, Loki moved in closer. Both of his blades were in front of him, and Ronan had to abort the swing to move out of the way. Loki kicked out in front of him, the reinforced toe of his boot striking Ronan in the chin. Ignoring Volstagg's guttural cry of pain, Loki continued to follow Ronan's movements, staying right next to the general. That kept him far too close to his usual liking, but he couldn't effectively wield the hammer. Loki couldn't really use his runic sword in close quarters, but Ronan was putting in effort to ensure the shadow blade didn't cut his skin.

Dropping the runic sword, Loki seized upon one of the ornate knives at his waist. Fandral was trying to move in closer, but the wild swing of the Warhammer was preventing him from getting in too close. This was Natasha's way to fight, to get her hands on someone and twist them into knots. It wasn't Fandral's way, wasn't Volstagg's. It hadn't been Loki's way to fight before; he had relied on spells and trickery as much as his speed and chaotic use of weapons. But right now, he was in close and able to bring his knife to Ronan's armor. It didn't pierce the ensorcelled material at all, but it was amusing to see the look of panic on the general's face. He didn't know if Loki was using an ordinary blade or the shadow blade, and Ronan wasn't as good in close quarters as Natasha was. Or as Loki had learned to be from sparring with her.

Moving backward, Ronan actually stumbled over Volstagg's splayed legs. Fandral took advantage of the general's flagging attention and moved in with his sword. He managed to stab Ronan between the armor plates, twisting the sword so that it wasn't a clean slice. That also pried apart the plating a bit, and Loki snarled a seeking spell. It kept the armor opened, giving Ronan a vulnerability he otherwise wouldn't have had.

The opening was on his dominant side, however, and rather than waste time to switch blades between his hands, Loki simply sank his knife into the opening. "For Asgard," he hissed, jerking the blade hard enough that it nearly broke inside of Ronan's body. "You will _never_ seize this realm. Thanos will not win."

"Thanos always gets what he wants," Ronan replied. "Sooner or later."

"Not always," Fandral said, thrusting his sword toward Ronan's head. "He didn't get Midgard and won't get Asgard."

"You can't protect them forever," Ronan sneered, moving backward to get out of Fandral's sword range. Loki closed the gap again and wrenched his knife from Ronan's side to try to stab him again. "My master will come, and you will all die."

"I'm only too happy to bring you with me," Loki hissed.

"Not this time," Ronan replied with a sneer. Before Loki could bring the shadow blade to his face, Ronan pressed a button on his belt. It activated an emergency beacon, and he was removed from the area by a transdimensional teleportation device. Fandral swore and Volstagg cried "The coward flees!"

Loki could only stare at the spot where Ronan had been. He escaped, and Thanos had never arrived in person. Had the other generals gotten away as well? Was all this for nothing?

"Drop your weapons!"

Turning at the sound of that voice, Loki nearly laughed bitterly at the sight of the palace guards pointing their swords at him. His secret was out, then. He had known it was only a matter of time before he was caught and brought to the gallows. He could fight it out or he could submit; submission wasn't in his nature, and he didn't want to make it easy on them. If he made it to a hidden location, he could cast invisibility spell on himself. He could find Natasha, and she would help him hide. Two dozen guards entering the armory with bows laid to rest his thoughts of fighting, however.

"This is a grave mistake," Fandral told them, startling Loki.

"He wasn't the one that injured me," Volstagg said.

Sif and Steve entered the armory, their weapons at the ready. It was surprising that Steve carried a sword. Since when did he use such a thing?

"This can't be good," Steve remarked. Loki bit back the impulse to say something cutting.

"Halt," Sif commanded the guards. "You will not take him prisoner."

"This is a traitor to the realm," the captain of the guards announced in his haughtiest tones. "The order for execution had been issued and will be carried out."

"He is under our command," Sif declared, her glare in Loki's direction clearly telling him not to challenge her words. Loki could see that she was attempting to bluff the captain, and kept his mouth shut. "We will take him to Odin ourselves."

By the time Loki arrived at Odin's throne room, he was accompanied by Thor, Sif, Volstagg leaning heavily on Fandral and Steve, as well as the rest of the Avengers and the Asgardian warriors that had been under their command. Odin sat on his throne, expression impassive and gaze landing heavily on Loki. He allowed each of them in turn to speak their piece. 

"You knew the penalty to return here was death," Odin said finally.

"I had no choice," Loki responded. "Thanos and his generals were set to destroy Asgard. I could not allow that to happen."

"Because you wanted to take this realm for yourself."

Loki couldn't help but snarl at Odin, eyes flashing with anger. "Because there are people here that actually have faith in your broken promises, and they don't deserve to die because of your arrogance!" he snapped. If he was set to die, there was no point in holding back. "The Chitauri sent ahead scouts to kill jarls and karls alike to sow unrest, which you willfully ignored. Healers were slaughtered, innocents were tortured and not once did you seek to uncover the true cause of the treachery. It was easier to blame it on karls, to keep your minions satisfied." Now Loki curled his lip in derision. "You were willfully blind to the plight of the people."

"The people? You don't care about the people."

"Not as a group," Loki admitted. "But individually. Those matter. Individuals aren't fools."

"No, they are not," Odin replied, eying everyone assembled in front of him suspiciously. Most stared back at him without flinching. "And yet..."

"He did not have to return to aid us," Thor said, looking at his father earnestly. "He knew the price of being here would be death, yet came anyway. Loki valued the welfare of this realm over that of his own life."

"This is difficult to believe."

"He introduces himself as Loki of Asgard," Natasha announced, voice ringing clear through the hall. Odin looked at her, mouth pinched in displeasure. "This isn't the first time he has tried to stop someone from harming this realm. Loki makes plenty of questionable decisions, but that doesn't mean he wants to see Asgard destroyed. He still sees Asgard as home, as the place he should defend." She raised her hands in a placating gesture when Odin looked almost angry, lips parted to speak. "He's a twisted bundle of contradictions, but that's how he sees it. This is home, and he can't rule it, but that doesn't mean he'd stand by and let someone else destroy it."

Loki glared at Natasha, who looked at him blithely and merely shrugged. "You don't like how it sounds, but that's still true."

"While here," Fandral began quietly, "not once did Loki run from battle. In fact, there were those of the royal guard that turned tail and ran from battle. Loki charged forward, within range of weapons, heedless of the personal cost it would take. There was much bravery in battle."

"Aye," Volstagg sighed, looking at Loki with a pinched expression. "I was wrong to have doubted his loyalty and courage. I doubted him at every turn, sure he would do harm under the guise of aid. Yet not once did he play us false." The words sounded as though they were dragged reluctantly from him.

"I believe, Father," Thor said in his same earnest tone, "that his sojourn on Midgard changed him, just as my time there had changed me." He swept an arm in the direction of the Avengers and beamed at them. "He no longer spurns those who would aid him, those who would be friends if he allows it."

"Is this fact?" Odin asked, looking at the Avengers sternly.

"Well, he worked with us to study magic," Tony said, the gravity of the situation curbing his usual sarcasm and irreverence. "Not exactly graciously, but he was pretty honest about his perceptions of doing it. I think Bruce and I were able to get a handle on how some spells work and how to track it."

"Track it," Odin echoed.

Bruce had calmed from his Hulk form, and one of the Asgardian warriors that had been in his contingent had given him a cloak and belt to preserve his modesty before the King. He nodded at Odin and gave him an apologetic smile. "There's low level gamma radiation produced with magic or magical artifacts. Within that signal are very subtle variations, based on the caster of the spell. There isn't any variation based on the kind of spell, if it's _seidr_ or _spá_ or runic in nature as far as we can tell. So it's basically a signature that—"

"Thank you," Odin interrupted, not unkindly.

"Loki came with me to soup kitchens and homeless shelters where I volunteer," Steve offered. All heads swiveled to stare at him except for Loki, who stared at a fixed spot over Odin's head, his jaw clenched.

"Indeed?" Thor asked, sounding delighted.

"Not Loki's favorite activity, but he did it. I go two or three times a week if I can, and he went with me every time. And the other days, I usually go to the VA—the Veteran's Association," he added for the Asgardians' benefit. "I've got some friends there, working with trauma patients or the support groups. Loki came with me there, too, saw first-hand what happens to soldiers on our world. He never once complained about any of the time at the VA."

Odin looked to Clint, who took a moment to realize he was expected to speak next. "Hey, don't look at me. I kept out of Loki's way, and he did the same. Mind control and all that shit, I didn't want to really be reminded of that." He shrugged and then scratched at the back of his head a little self-consciously. "But when we did talk, he didn't gloat or anything. Just was kind of quiet and lost, really."

Loki wanted to growl at them all, to say they were petty mortals with petty problems. That he had been bored and had nothing else better to do. But they were helping him, he could see that much, and knew they didn't have to. They could have thrown him to the wolves. They could have lied and let Odin hang him.

But just like Natasha, they were being just. They were being _fair_ in their assessments of him. _They were giving him a second chance._

The silence after Clint's pronouncement weighed heavily, and Loki wanted to scream or break something just to make it end.

"In light of such testimony," Odin finally began ponderously, "Loki's death sentence is commuted to banishment for a thousand years, at which time his behavior would be evaluated." His gaze landed on Loki again, heavy and uncomfortable. This was the man he had thought of as his father until several years ago. Some part of him would always think of Odin as his father, even as he rebelled against it.

"I hope that you take this opportunity seriously," Odin said when Loki remained silent. "And someday, you will come to understand the decisions made here. Just as Thor did."

Loki bristled, but kept his lips shut as if they were stitched closed. He didn't want to give Odin the satisfaction of an answer, especially when he wasn't sure he could keep his tone level or sounding arrogant. He felt broken and shredded, just as lost as Clint had pronounced him to be, and would _never_ want Odin to see it. He would rather Odin interpret his silence as haughtiness and overconfidence. He would rather appear strong in any sense of the word than the weak creature he felt himself to be.

As Odin made arrangements with the palace guard, Loki tried not to chafe under the idea of being bound then banished. It was no different than exile on pain of death, but this felt so much worse. Perhaps because it was no longer his choice.

"You will go to Midgard in three days' time for the holmgang, of course," Loki told Volstagg before he was brought to the palace's Healing Hall.

Volstagg scowled when the Healer's apprentice that fetched him blanched. "But the wound may not be fully healed in that time!" she cried. "You shouldn't have walked, even with assistance. The damage may be too great."

Knowing he appeared to be a heel, Loki merely grinned at Volstagg. "If you're not there, you forfeit and are the coward."

"Let your vile tongue be still!" Volstagg hissed.

Steve actually poked Loki on the arm with a disapproving expression on his face. "Whatever this holmgang is, it sounds like a big deal. Stop being an ass about it." He then turned the same expression to Volstagg, surprisingly enough. "And you need to keep your own mouth shut and follow the directions of your Healer. I can tell that you're a horrible patient. Promise me you won't do anything stupid during your recovery."

If the Avengers didn't exactly smother their laughter, Loki didn't mind. They were simply laughing for him. From what he remembered, Steve was correct anyway. Volstagg had always been an unruly patient, much like Thor. Fandral had been far more tractable, if only so he could flirt with the Healers during sponge baths. Loki and Sif had suffered through the ministrations impatiently, if only so they could return to battle.

Natasha suggested that Loki be allowed a moment to say goodbye to Frigga if Odin was amenable to such things. That of course maneuvered him into allowing it, if only so court members could comment on his magnanimous nature. Crafty woman. Loki wasn't sure if he actually wanted to see Frigga—their last meeting had been so bitter, after all—but he wasn't given the option to refuse. Under escort of Fandral and Thor, his hands bound and sword remanded to Sif's care, Loki was brought to Frigga's sitting room. Though he was likely supposed to be accompanied at all times, they let him enter the room alone so that they could rejoin Odin, who was calling an emergency council meeting.

Frigga looked up from the tome she had been reading. Loki could see it was a text regarding the _spá;_ it seemed as though she was constantly reading of such things. Was she hoping to change his fate? It had to be far too late for such nonsense.

"Loki." The hopeful look on her face changed to that of despair as soon as she saw his bound hands. "Oh, no..."

"I'm not bound for the gallows," Loki told her quietly. "This is farewell before I am banished for a thousand years."

"Thank the Norns," Frigga replied, putting aside the text as she stood. Her fond smile was almost painful to look at. "So there is hope yet that you may return."

"Should Odin see fit to allow it," Loki told her stiffly.

"Do you still deny Odin as your father?"

"He is King," Loki replied. His voice at least didn't reflect the pain he felt. "He does what he feels serves the Realm."

"Loki. We all did what we thought was best..."

"It wasn't best! I was alone here, always different. Your lies didn't change that. They reviled me behind my back, _Mother,_ yet greeted me through lying teeth. I was not wanted unless I could be used."

Frigga cupped his face in her hands. "For the _seidr,_ not your Jotun nature. You never knew you were different in form. That was never a source of pain."

"I had enough others."

She clucked her tongue in a chiding manner. "Would you condemn us for the rest of eternity?"

 _Of course. I am broken._ But instead of saying the words aloud, Loki remained silent, staring at her sullenly.

"I suppose I should be grateful for that, however," Frigga murmured. "For at least you live."

"I am reviled—"

"Your choices play a role in that, Loki," Frigga replied, steel beneath her voice. She grasped his arm, and Loki could feel the pull of powerful magicks in her touch.

"You condemned me with your choices as well," Loki said, throat closing due to grief. He wanted Frigga to hold him and tell him everything would sort itself out. He wanted her to approve of his relationship with Natasha, however twisted and unnatural that it was. He wanted to be told that he wasn't an abject failure, wasn't an aberration, wasn't a monster. But he knew he was, inside and out, and she would never lie about that.

She moved her hand from his arm to his face. "We all are condemned by our choices, Loki. The real question is if we are able to move on from them." Her fingers trailed gently down his cheek, and her touch _burned._ "I hope you can find peace."

"How can there be peace?" Loki all but snarled, keeping himself unnaturally still so that he didn't simply throw himself into her arms. "I'm a monster."

"Even monsters have friends. Even monsters have redemption."

"I cannot be redeemed."

"I do not believe that. Natasha doesn't believe that. Her friends even believe there is something worthy in you. Otherwise they would not defend you so."

He didn't deserve any of it. He knew this as fact, yet he was offered chance after chance after chance. They kept saying he could choose differently.

But could he really, if this was all he knew?

Frigga pulled him close and pressed a kiss to his forehead, then both cheeks. "Stay safe," she cautioned him. "There are still hidden dangers on Midgard."

Loki was touched even as he didn't want to be. He dipped his head slightly in a bow, and then found himself swept up in her arms. While he was stiff initially, he finally swallowed his pride and gripped her tight. If there were tears, neither mentioned them.

A thousand years. That was going to be a very long time, indeed.

***

Further goodbyes and arrangements were being made, but Thor's presence was requested first in Odin's conference room. Natasha tagged along, and blithely ignored the startled looks of Odin's economic advisors and war council. She was still Ambassador, and Thor thought she could contribute practical wisdom to the discussion regarding rebuilding Asgard.

"The others will be sent back to Midgard," Natasha said in matter of fact tones. "They can keep an eye on Loki while the rebuilding takes place here."

"Rebuilding," Odin echoed blankly.

"You're merely an ambassador," Einarr said in haughty tones.

"And yet I'm the one to point out the obvious," Natasha replied, an edge to her voice. "Some of the devastation on Asgard left many estates without jarls to run them, or others without karls to work them. Some higher jarls were killed as well. You're looking at a power vacuum."

Einarr looked as though he had tasted something particularly foul, but remained silent. He was one of Odin's economic advisors, after all, along with Hrodvaldr and Sigsteinn. They were supposed to know all the details regarding the internal economy of Asgard, yet hadn't been able to anticipate what the damage would do here.

"What do you suggest, Natasha?" Thor asked, appearing genuinely interested. It was the reason he had asked her to be present, after all. She was starting to appreciate how his mind worked, and gave him a gracious smile.

"The ones that know what estates need are the ones that live there. That means both jarls and karls." She ignored the shock and outrage of the economic advisors and kept her gaze on Odin and Thor. "On Midgard, a lot of countries have a representational system to get the people's voice heard. They elect a representative to speak for them. They would use different names, depending on the country. But creating a parliamentary system would help advise all of you on what was necessary for the rebuilding. It would also prevent future unrest if the karls felt that their concerns were heard."

"This is ridiculous!" Hrodvaldr boomed. "They are _karls,_ and know nothing. They should not have a place in rule."

Sigsteinn agreed enthusiastically, as did Einarr. "Jarls have always shown the way to live on Asgard. Karls are rabble. They are dirty and ignorant and common."

Natasha ignored them. "Women also have a hand in running a lot of things on Asgard, though the men try to ignore that fact and isolate them. Or beat them," she added darkly, thinking of how she had last seen Gilla.

Hrodvaldr scoffed. "Women have a place on Asgard, and that is to serve men's needs, bear the children and keep to the home. They cannot rule."

"You think Frigga incapable? Or Sif? Or any Valkyrie?" Natasha asked, voice low and dangerous. "You think the women of Asgard wouldn't defend themselves or whatever they feel is important?" She took one of the knives Maeginbiorn had made for her and whipped it across the room, slicing through Hrodvaldr's robes and hitting the wall solidly. Everyone leapt to their feet and started shouting. "Try to do better than that if you think women are useless in this process," she challenged, retrieving another blade. She held it by the tang, hilt extended toward Hrodvaldr in an almost mocking manner.

He had to accept or lose face against her challenge, yet everyone in the room knew that he wouldn't be able to throw the knife with any accuracy.

"Come now," he tried to say placatingly, hand extended.

Without taking her eyes away from his face, Natasha threw the knife, still holding the blade. It landed right next to her other one. "I have another for you to try."

"Enough," Odin snapped impatiently.

"It is a system that works well on Midgard," Thor told them all as he went to the wall to retrieve the knives for Natasha. "Women hold many roles there: healer, teacher, historian, entertainer, organizer, farmer, crafter, fighter, leader, ruler."

Natasha nodded her thanks at Thor and replaced her knives. "Women are far more capable than you give them credit for, even here."

"A true lady would not wish for such a thing," Sigsteinn huffed.

"A true lady would want the choice to be hers," Natasha said sweetly, steel beneath her tone.

"My travels on Midgard acquainted me with many kinds of people. Some women had no wish to rule. Just as some men did not," Thor said, shrugging. "The choice indeed was theirs. I suppose the same would be said of our people. Not all would want to rule, whether jarl or karl, male or female." He turned to Odin, a hopeful expression on his face. "What say you, Father?"

Odin sighed, neatly trapped between different expectations. "A compromise can be reached," he said finally. "Asgard is not Midgard. Not all of their customs would suit us," he added, which rather sounded like hedging to Natasha.

"Adapt the concept to your needs," Natasha said matter of factly, voice flat. "Each district should be able to choose someone that would be able to help advise your council about their needs. It cuts down on guesswork on your part, extends the view to the people that you care about their wellbeing and shows off your good will."

Though he was clearly irritated by Natasha's suggestion, Odin could still see the merit in it. Thor was also so enthusiastic about it that Odin would appear to be an uncaring boor if he refused to even entertain the idea.

"This system is unheard of on Asgard. Myriad details would have to be considered..."

"I can tell you about the differences in Midgardian customs," Natasha offered. "Pick the parts that would work best for Asgard."

There was no artifice on Natasha's part, though Odin obviously wished that there was. She spoke at length about representative governments, glaring at any advisor that sought to belittle her report. Thor agreed that women should be included in the project, much to the advisors' visible consternation. He was irritated with them, and finally snapped "They bear and raise our children. They safeguard our homes and our souls. They heal us, teach us, craft spells for our wellbeing and care. Asgard is their home as much as ours, and they shape who we are. They deserve as much consideration as we do."

"Well said," Natasha said with a smile. "Including them isn't the issue, I don't think. Why don't we figure out how often to make the elections?"

***

With internal politics more or less arranged, Natasha began to make her farewells. Her friends were starting to return to Earth, though of course Jane would be the last to leave. She had too many things she wanted to study with Ketilve while she had the chance to access the library, and she didn't want to give up the opportunity to spend time with Thor. While much of Asgard had to be rebuilt, a larger part of it remained untouched by the Chitauri. Thor and Jane often went on tours of Asgard, which also allowed Thor to observe how the reconstruction was proceeding. As Natasha expected, the higher jarls were vocally opposed to changing the status quo, while lesser jarls were indifferent and karls were cautiously excited.

Bera was sorry that Natasha would be returning to Earth but wasn't very surprised, either. "If you change too many things here, people get unhappy. And you made _a lot_ of people unhappy, Lady Natasha," she said, a smile on her face. "Lucky for you, I'm not one of them."

Natasha had laughed along with her, given her hugs and advised her to keep up with her self-defense studies. Bera helped her pack all of her belongings, and even Lara's abandoned wardrobe of dresses and robes. Just in case.

Loki had a very small window of opportunity before he had to leave Asgard, and he preferred to spend it at Natasha's side. Heimdall was aware of this, and gravely told Loki that there were three more hours before he would be considered in violation of his banishment terms. Natasha had immediately headed for Gilla's home. Saying farewell to Sif and Fandral would take much less time than that.

Gilla was pleased to see her, and actually grasped her in a tight hug, burying her face in the crook of Natasha's neck. "Oh. I had worried after you so much. Between the deaths on the estate, the fires and smoke and explosions... I knew you would be in the thick of it, and I've heard how you've been involved with stopping the leaders of the invasion."

Thanos' generals had been questioned and imprisoned in enchanted cells beneath the palace. She hadn't asked if they were tortured, it wasn't her business.

"I'm here now to say goodbye. They're letting me return to Earth."

"Do they know about... that day? Here? When you came in and... And then with the fire?" Gilla asked, voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

"No, they don't. I'm sorry you had to see that," Natasha began slowly, seeing the concern on Gilla's face. "I couldn't stand there and see him hurting you like that."

Gilla gave her a soft, sad smile. "I understood. And when you arranged everything afterward while I was too distraught to speak with Feinborn..."

"This is your life, Gilla," Natasha said softly, extending her arms to take in the estate around them. "I couldn't let him take it from you, not when you appreciate it more than he did. And I couldn't let you suffer from my actions."

Reaching out to grasp one of Natasha's hands, Gilla nodded. "That's the sort of thing you do on your realm, isn't it?" Natasha nodded solemnly. "You're a warrior as well as a woman, as well as an Ambassador."

"Sometimes the things I have to do aren't very nice, but they have to be done to protect others."

"And now they're sending you away."

Natasha gave her a wry smile. "There are easier ways to travel between our realms now, and communicate if we need to. But honestly, I may have caused too much trouble."

Gilla smiled in answer, her hand tightening around Natasha's. "Not for me."

"I'm glad you're safe," Natasha murmured, meaning it.

"As a widow, I have more freedom. I can make decisions, not be doubted as much." Her expression grew troubled. "Konrad is still missing. I can't help but wonder if Falki knew, and that's why he was so violent that day."

Natasha wasn't about to tell her the truth about Konrad, so she simply smiled sadly at Gilla. "I'm sorry. I know you loved him, and he loved you."

"There won't be others like him. Or you." Her expression grew shy, and she dropped her eyes. "I would not be so bold as to find another companion, so I will treasure the memories I have of our time together."

"It's all right to like both." She leaned in and kissed the corner of Gilla's mouth gently. "Whatever happens, I want you to be happy. If that includes a partner, then that's great. You'll find someone when you least expect it," Natasha told her, hoping the platitude would be helpful for her to hear.

Gilla pulled her in for a tight hug. "That is a truth," she agreed, pressing a kiss to Natasha's cheek, right in front of her ear. "I will remember you and your strength. If I have even a fraction of it within me, the estate will flourish under my care."

"It's been flourishing so far," Natasha reminded her. "And you've more than a fraction, if you look hard enough."

That got her a little flustered in a pleased sort of way, and the moment between them passed. She would be fine, Natasha knew, but she still sighed as she left Gilla's estate. An invisible shadow fell into step beside her. "You were infinitely kind to her," Loki murmured.

"At least one person here thinks kindly of me."

"More than one," Loki corrected quietly. "What you have done here certainly brings some balance to your ledger." Natasha felt his fingers slide down her arm in a comforting gesture. "You have saved many innocents here."

Natasha finally allowed herself a smile. "Yeah, I suppose it's worked out all right." She glanced out of the corner of her eye, the slight displacement and shimmer of air the only clue where Loki was beside her. "You have some black in your ledger now, too."

"It's a far cry from balance."

"You have time. And a thousand years isn't all that long for your kind."

There was a hitch in Loki's step at that. "But it is far too long for yours. Even a hundred years is too long a time, but not enough."

"Better make the most of the time available, then."

Loki made a noncommittal noise that sounded like he was in agreement. There was nothing left to do on Asgard but pack and head to the Observatory. The realm would settle into a new equilibrium soon enough, then remain unchanged for several millennia. Earth, in the meantime, continued to change all the time. Natasha was already needed there, and Loki had already promised to protect her.

Vacation over. Time to get back to her day job.

The End


End file.
